A brief history

Carlyon Bay comprises three beaches; Crinnis, Shorthorn and Polgaver at the top of St Austell Bay. The beaches were formed following the diversion of the Sandy River which deposited sand (stent) from the china clay quarries.

The site has an interesting leisure and tourism history, beginning in the 1920s. The Coliseum was built in 1936 and the complex included tennis courts - used for practice prior to Wimbledon - and an Olympic size swimming pool. Afternoon tea dances and parties were regular features.

During the war the beach was largely closed becoming a staging post for the Normandy landings. In 1960 the Coliseum was renovated and re-launched as a concert venue hosting some of the biggest names in the music world, but in the 1990s the site fell into disrepair through lack of funding.

There are a number of historic planning permissions for development at Carlyon Bay. Significantly in 1990 planning permission was granted for 511 holiday dwellings, together with over 10,000 m2 (108,000 sq ft) leisure/commercial space. This planning permission was renewed in 1996 and has been implemented. The drawing below shows the layout of the implemented scheme, that is located on both Crinnis and Shorthorn beaches.

Ampersand bought the site with extant planning permission in 2002 and between 2003-2005 a revised sea defence scheme was proposed to provide defences in line with current recommendations.

The resultant application for a new sea wall and beach recharge was refused by the Secretary of State (SoS). The refusal is currently subject to a legal challenge. The SoS did confirm that the existing planning permission was a genuine fallback, that could be developed. This will result in development on both Crinnis and Shorthorn beaches (with about 200 units on Shorthorn). Effectively both beaches are ‘brownfield’.