Conversion of Scarborough care home into large guest house refused over ‘harmful’ plan for ‘electronic monitoring’

The Aspire Group’s application to convert the vacant Mayfair Residential Home into a serviced guest house with 19 bedrooms has been refused over concerns about controlling “noise and disturbance”.

More than a dozen members of the public as well as council officers raised objections over the proposed conversion.

The 19th Century property is situated on 42 Esplanade, with seafront views and is currently vacant as a result of the former care home being shut down.

The applicant said that the serviced apartments would provide a combined kitchen, dining room and living room to allow for “sufficient self-catering provision”.

While neighbouring properties on either side of the building comprise dwellings that host self-contained residential flats, council officers said that their biggest concern was the plan’s impact on amenity.

Officers’ concerns focused on the proposal for a “technological monitoring system” instead of a manned reception.

The council’s environmental health team said that “the type of proposal would change the character of the area and result in complaints of noise and anti-social behaviour”.

The planning authority concurred and stated that “the measures proposed would not be able to moderate noise and disturbance emanating from the use in the same way that a manned reception would”.

The council added: “Inherent to the ‘non-on-site supervised’ large apart-hotel model is the potential for a level of noise and disturbance associated with the use from both within and outside the building which is fundamentally and harmfully incompatible with the existing low-key, subdued and peaceful character of the area”.

The objecting reisdents also raised various concerns about parking, waste disposal, noise prevention measures, intensive building works, lack of disabled access, and impact on the town’s conservation area.

The proposal was rejected by the council on Thursday, November 30.