PLANS to knock down a former pub in Poole and replace it with a three-storey block of flats and office space for Sunseeker have been refused.

The company’s charter division submitted an application for a new development on The Ferryman site in New Quay Road.

The pub is now wholly residential after planning permission was granted in 2016, however council planning officers found it has been left to deteriorate.

The 19th century building is locally listed and on a site believed to contain archaeological remains of a salt extraction industry of the Iron Age and Roman period, as well as a Roman fort.

Demolition of the building is already allowed under an order made in 2015.

However, planning officer Sarah Scannell refused Sunseeker Charters’ plans on the basis they “would not constitute port-related development and would be likely to prejudice the port’s future economic potential”.

She said the proposed development also had a “poor design” and would not justify the loss of the current locally listed building.

The applicants had wanted to build a block of eight one-bedroom flats and create more than 100sqm of office space for Sunseeker Charters or another port-related operator.

The eight flats were included to “justify the development in viability terms”.

However, in her case report Ms Scannell said bringing flats to the site “would be likely to prejudice noisy port-related development on neighbouring sites”.

“The site bounds the sole road serving the port. A number of businesses in the port area, including the ferry services and aggregates and unloading wharfs, have the ability to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week with unrestricted HGV and other associated vehicular movements.”

She added that while the former pub building had been in need of renovation “for a number of years”, it was “nonetheless a generally attractive and unusual building in the context of the area”.

Poole Quays Forum, which created the neighbourhood plan for the Poole area, had also objected to the development.

Chairman Bill Constance said: “Obviously, the success of Sunseeker and the considerable employment opportunities for Poole is welcomed and their modern large industrial sheds are a natural evolution from the smaller boat building yards along the waterfront. However, on the south side of New Quay Road, it is regrettable that the planning authority has not shown more resolve in preserving one of the last remnants of this historic area, particularly bearing in mind this is the first part of Poole encountered by arrivals from the cross channel ferries.”