PROPOSALS for the conversion of a hotel near Bude into ten residential flats have been submitted to Cornwall Council.

Two separate planning applications have been submitted to the planning authority.

One application (reference PA26/02096) seeks to gain permission to convert the hotel room block into eight residential apartments while a second application (reference PA26/02068) seeks the change the use of the hotel and restaurant, the portion of the complex which comprised of the original buildings into two residential apartments.

The applicant told Cornwall Council: “The Kerenza Hotel has traded under various names and ownership over the last fifteen years. Most recently it has traded as the Kerenza Hotel, but it has now ceased trading.

“The most recent owner acquired the hotel just as the Covid staycation boom took hold and the hotel appeared to be a viable enterprise. However, since then the staycation boom has subsided and inflation has increased costs for all businesses.

“In addition, the well reported recent tax increases and increases in minimum and living wages has added yet further burdens to the hospitality industry in particular. This has led to the hotel no longer being able to cover its costs and has now ceased trading.”

A previous proposal seeking a permission in principle to construct eight or nine flats on land that had been occupied as a room block for the adjacent Kerenza Hotel had been approved in 2025, but in this latest application, rather than demolish the block, the applicant seeks to change the use of the existing building into use as the eight residential flats.

The application comes only four years after the hotel’s operators sought to extend the accommodation to add an extra floor and provide a further six hotel bedrooms.

In the proposals submitted for the change of use of the Kerenza Hotel into residential flats, the applicants confirmed that they intended for the original building to be separated from the adjoining room block. They said: “It is proposed that the original house is separated off from the newer room block and converted into two flats which will be a self contained development. The only thing shared will be the car parking and bin storage areas, although there will be designated portions for each.”

Meanwhile, in the adjoining block, the rooms that had been used for hotel guests would be turned into seven residential flats while the eighth would comprise of the former owners/managers accommodation flat.

The applicant stated: “Whilst the permission in principle application proposed to either converting the existing building or replacing the building in its entirety, it has now been concluded that the most sustainable and sensible approach is to retain the existing building and carry out internal alterations to facilitate the change of use.”

The eight flats would become two-bedroomed residential flats, while the original hotel building would become one two bedroom flat and one four bedroomed flat.

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.

In its submissions to Cornwall Council, the applicant said that their proposal will provide ‘much needed additional housing’ without impacting the local area.