A GERMAN bunker at Bouley Bay is being leased out by the government for five years to provide a temporary home for the harbour’s dive centre while a luxury home is built on the former hotel site.
Benches and a large metal winch currently sit on of the bunker, which is next to the public toilets.
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, who recently approved the lease, said it would “facilitate the ongoing operations of the Bouley Bay Dive Centre while the redevelopment of the former Water’s Edge Hotel occurs”. In February, planning permission was given for the temporary dive centre while the hotel is demolished and rebuilt as a single luxury home.
The centre is currently based in the lower ground floor of the empty hotel and will return to roughly the same location when the new building is completed in two to three years’ time. A new café will also open next door.
The redevelopment of the hotel was approved by the Planning Committee last October but a separate application – proposing that the dive centre should move to temporary cabins on the car parking spaces between the Water’s Edge and the German bunker – was rejected.
The committee was concerned about the loss of parking while the work took place.
In January, the family behind the development and their advisers came up with a new solution, which was approved by Planning.
A temporary centre will be created on the viewing platform above the German bunker, which is halfway between the slipway and the empty hotel. The demolition of the hotel is yet to commence.
