Contentious plans for Victorian Hall

An application has been made to demolish outbuildings at Saltburn's Brockley Hall and replace them with a four-storey apartment block.

The scheme, which will create 22 sheltered accommodation apartments, has received backing from planning officers at Redcar and Cleveland Council.

At the same time there is also an application to build a three storey extension and sun lounge to replace the halls Dales bedroom block and adjoining chalet.

The hall itself is a holiday retreat for Christians and has been operating from the site for over fifty years.

David Knowles, of Saltburn Society's steering group, said: "It's an inappropriate scheme in the town's conservation area. It's very prominent building, it can be seen from the town centre and the Valley Gardens.

"It is a Victorian building surrounded by other Victorian buildings and we fell the development will have a detrimental impact on the area."

The development is a way of raising funds for the hall, which is open the majority of the year and is run as a charitable trust by Christian Endeavour Holiday Centres and can cater for up to 60 guests in a range of different rooms.

Residents have sent more than 300 letters of objection and handed in a petition with more than 1,000 signatures.

Among their concerns is that the design is at odds with Victorian architecture "a mass of irregular positioned and sized windows, irregular position so called bay windows, which are glass fronted balconies".

Other reservations include the loss of open space and trees as well as the size of the new building, which they claim will dominate the towns roof-line in an inappropriate way.

No one was available for comment from the management of Brockley Hall last night.

In total the council's planning committee will consider five applications at 10.15am on Wednesday (OCT 14), at Eston Town Hall, Fabian Road, Eston, near Middlesbrough.

All the application have received planning officer recommendation.