Luxury lodges built for Cornwall’s G7 summit could be pulled down – because of planning breach

Protesters will picket Carbis Bay Hotel this weekend following council enforcement notice ordering it to remove suites and replant destroyed woodland. By Colin Drury

Preparations taking place at the Carbis Bay Hotel ahead of June’s G7 summit (PA)

They were the newly built beach-side suites where Boris Johnson hosted G7 leaders this summer for talks about, among other things, the environment.

The problem? Coastal woodland had been ripped down to make way for lodges at the Carbis Bay Hotel site in Cornwall.

Now, after Cornwall County Council, ordered the glass-fronted rooms – all built without planning permission – to be taken down, hundreds of protesters are set to gather at the venue this weekend to demand bosses restore both the trees and wildlife populations that had lived there.

“The damage to this land will never be recovered,” said Neil Scott, coordinator of the St Ives Extinction Rebellion group. “This is not a few dozen trees that don’t matter. It’s a unique ecosystem that has been wiped out. It should never have happened. Now, it needs returning to nature.”

Bosses at the hotel – which describes itself as a “luxurious coastal retreat” – had the work done ahead of hosting the G7 summit in June, despite the government saying it neither required nor requested the extra space.

They have appealed an enforcement notice requiring them to remove the buildings.

But environmental campaigners fear that a successful appeal will set a precedent in which developers feel confident in kicking ahead with schemes without ever seeking permission.

“They rode roughshod over planning and local opinion and if they are allowed to get away with this, what you are going to see is other developers doing the exact same thing – pouring concrete all over our green spaces – because they will know there are no consequences,” says Scott. “This is a small development but it erodes our community and our coastline. We’re in the middle of Cop26 and it’s now clearer than ever that every single erosion like this is one more battle lost in the fight against climate change.”

The protest will be held at the venue on Sunday November 14, between 2pm and 3pm.

The Independent has contacted the Carbis Bay Hotel for comment.