MILLENDREATH owners, Valley Resorts, have presented their plans for wide-scale redevelopment at the coastal hamlet near Looe.

The company, which acquired the resort around three years ago, hopes eventually to build up to 150 new units. The phased project would see new one and two-storey holiday accommodation created on the beachfront, the valley floor, the eastern hillside, and within woodland further inland.

A meeting of St Martin-By-Looe parish council, attended by around eight local members of the public, was the chance for the developer to describe their vision for Millendreath.

They describe how Millendreath grew in the 1950s and 60s as a holiday resort with restaurant, cabins, caravans and recreational facilities. A number of dwellings were also built on the eastern valley, which remain today.

While not part of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Millendreath does lie within an Area of Great Landscape Value, and part of the site, towards the coast, is designated as a County Wildlife Site. Parts of the settlement are considered to have high probability levels of flooding.

In the 1960s, says agent Avison Young, planning consent was granted at Millendreath for 280 holiday chalets: 176 of these were built along with a pub and club building. Since then, a number of the facilities have closed and remain as vacant buildings; the valley bottom consists of a mixture of informal parking, a sewerage treatment plant and “poorly managed landscaping”.

The holiday chalets remain and are occupied under varying tenures.

A series of planning permissions for the beachfront and hillside areas have been issued in the decades since, some of which are still extant. Avison Young considers that the existing permissions should act as a fallback position, allowing for a certain amount of development by default, while the the applicant also wants to explore new areas for the creation of low impact holiday units further inland.

As part of a big picture approach to the whole village, set out in a pre-planning enquiry last June, Valley Resorts said it would create a new restaurant, shop, and commercial unit and areas of open space. Parking would be provided for 120 cars in the beachfront and 240 cars in a long stay car park further back, using existing car parking space. A further 50 parking spaces would be created in front of the eastern hillside area.

A crucial aspect of the project would be the creation of new sea defences at the top of the beach and improved drainage, which the applicant says will protect the valley buildings from potential future flooding.

In an initial response to that pre-planning application in 2024, Cornwall Council’s principle drainage officer said that Millendreath Beach and the lower part of the proposed development site sit within the Coastal Protection Act buffer area. With matters of flood risk and coastal erosion here beyond the remit of the local authority, the Environment Agency and Coastal Protection Authority must be consulted, the officer states.

However, the Coastal Protection Act gave local government the opportunity to designate Coastal Change Management Areas (CCMAs), and Cornwall has implemented these in order to protect buildings and infrastructure in areas most vulnerable to rising sea levels and erosion. The coastline around Looe is included in this management area. The plan for Millendreath, given climate change predictions, is to “allow natural coastal evolution to occur to support conservation interest of protected sites.”

“Subject to permissions,” the plan continues, “to allow local activity to enable regeneration in the area whilst also enabling roll back of the shoreline to accommodate coastal change and avoid environmental deterioration.”

Cornwall Councillor for East Looe and St Martin’s, Armand Toms, said that at the parish council meeting, Valley Resorts had presented plans including to raise the valley floor to aid flood prevention.

“Sewage will be directed to the mains system and there will be traffic surveys for the lane. Both the parish council and myself will await for the full application to see what is finally proposed before full comments can be made.”

Valley Resorts, which own further holiday resorts at Perranporth and Padstow, said that discussions with Cornwall Council, local residents and the parish council at Millendreath were ongoing, and that these would feed in to the final, full planning application when it is submitted.

They say that they aim to take a masterplan approach in order to develop the resort with its four separate areas in a holistic way.

By investing in Cornwall through the delivery of additional holiday accommodation, says Valley Resorts, they’ll be supporting the economy: further provision of holiday units will “enhance the cultural and tourist offer in Cornwall and continue to promote Cornwall as a year-round destination for tourism and recreation”, one of the aims of the Cornwall Local Plan.

“The site is a highly sustainable location,” says the applicant, “beyond its onsite service provision there is a good level of accessible services and transport options nearby. The South West Coastal Path runs from the Beachfront area westwards immediately into the major coastal settlement of Looe where there is a high level of service provision and transport options available. In regard to local shops and services, it is a 20-minute walk along a well-lit and metalled road to the centre of Looe.”

The developer argues that visitors will easily be able to access the resort by bus or by train to Looe, and that buses run from Looe Primary School which is a “ten minute walk along the coastal path”.

In terms of cars, Millendreath is accessible by just one road in and out. The additional chalets will represent a 28 per cent increase in the accommodation as a whole in the settlement, says the developer.

“This minimal increase in accommodation by would not place undue pressure on the site access , nor represent undue intensification of the access,” says Valley Resorts, “and would generate a minimal increase in vehicle trips.

“Furthermore, visitors and guests would be expected to visit on-site facilities or be directed to the good pedestrian links to Looe as opposed to driving further afield.”