New plans for a historic Grade II* building in Bonchurch have been submitted – this time to restore the grand property that was once home to a poet. Robert Camping, from Wonder House Group and Joesph Allnatt Centres, wants to make East Dene, overlooking the Island’s coast at Bonchurch, into a single house with guest and staff accommodation. Planning documents say:
“This new scheme will mean East Dene cannot be split up and sold off and will not change its integrity from what it was designed as — a family home.”
The latest plans would restore the 1820s-built property to its original use. The grand estate was previously the home of Victorian poet, Algernon Charles Swinburne and also of MP John Snowdon Henry. In more recent times it has been a wedding venue, hotel, youth activity centre and school. During COVID-19, the building stood empty. Proposals to turn the estate into a boutique wellbeing hotel, ‘aparthotel’ and flats there have all faltered. The latest documents recognise these previous ‘failed attempts’ to develop the estate, due to traffic and parking concerns, and rule out “commercial use of the site.” The new plans say the house is overdue some restoration and argue the scheme would preserve the building and give it a sustainable future. They say roads would be less busy and the conservation area would be enhanced, if the new plans are passed. There would be no external alterations and internal refurbishment would be ‘sensitive’ and ‘sympathetic’, retaining existing finishes and keeping the current layout ‘intact’. Toilet cubicles and ensuite facilities, which were added during later, would be removed. You can view the plans, 23/02196/FUL and 23/02197/LBC, on the Isle of Wight Council’s planning register. Comments can be submitted until 2nd April. Ventnor Town Council and Historic England are among those to have objected to previous proposals for East Dene, saying the building should be preserved for posterity.
I hope the children are okay,
Close all those disgusting V Shops.
Did you actually read the article. An illegal vape, and a weed vape at that. Literally nothing to do with vape shops at all, sold by drug dealers.
This is self inflicted, this is the nation we live in now….In this woke ideology we now live in, we have lost control of our young, school’s, parents, police, and the mainstream media are all part of this problem….
Hope kids ok,but that school is no good informing anyone,no messages passed through teachers and secretary,more concerned about correct uniform then anything else
I agree with your concerns but, to be fair, the staff didn’t know enough, quickly enough, to give parents any sort of accurate report instantly. Also, in my experience, The Bay School are not obsessed with uniform and seem to tolerate cost friendly variations with common sense.
They should all wear too too’s, go woke go broke…
You sad lonely old fool how’s the dogs loner
And you really really need a new record the groove is so worn the needle not only sticks it makes you look the total womble you are! You would not know what a woke culture was ifitjumpedup and it the end of your very very long Pinocchio nose.
Back in my day, if you wanted to use the toilets at break, all the other kids would tell you to shut the door quickly because the toilets were being hotboxed, we had none of this vape nonsense. (I’m not making a point, this is just a weird anecdote from my youth)
Oh yeah i remember the good ol’ days of hotboxing on jenkem. Didn’t cause me any problems…happily living in a state paid for property, claiming state paid benefits and littering my seed indiscriminately to any available womb owner.
“In recent weeks, parents have raised concerns about the growing use of vapes by pupils”
Well as there parents, do something about it! Or do think that is the schools job!
Couldn’t agree with you more. If you are a parent, then parent your children.
The first thing to do, is find out who the piece of shit was who supplied the stuff in the first place. Someone must have taken it into the school, and someone must know who it was.
Calm down Mr potato
The very older man thought it was ok this is why older people should not be allowed out
Are the children Stupid!
They know it is wrong to smoke or Vape at their age.
Bet their parents are not the brightest of sparks.
You only have to walk along many streets on the island and people
are vaping Cannabis.
What is becoming of this once sane Island, it use to be the perfect place to
bring children up, sadly not anymore.
In Sandown, at The Bay CE School,
Where vaping’s against the rule,
Two kids felt unwell,
From a vape, they could tell,
But cannabis? That’s just not cool!
The police and the ambulance crew,
Rushed in to see what they could do,
With THC in the vape,
It’s no wonder they gape,
At the antics of these kids, it’s true!
Now parents are quite irate,
No info from the school, they state,
But letters will come,
With a warning: don’t succumb,
To vaping, it’s just not that great!
Parents can only do so much. They can only control what they can see, They can’t have eyes on them 24/7. The nicest kids being brought up by the nicest Fully Employed parents who discipline, Not on benefits, living in an owned home are all struggling with this too.
“with guest and staff accommodation”
Still sounds suspiciously like a hotel to me. More traffic issues no doubt.
Maybe, maybe not, could be a rehearsal room and recording studio. Who knows!!!
plans … rule out “commercial use of the site”
Private hire. Non commercial for the holiday trade. Not like a hotel.
This would be the best outcome for this fine old buildling in a quiet part of the world.
Serial property developer Robert Camping from Wonder House Group and Joseph Allnatt Centres will probably find a way to wangle some lucrative use for this house. Mark my words. Hark, do I hear the thud of a hefty brown envelope landing on a mat or was it the dog falling off the sofa?
Bonchurch is falling apart, what’s the point.