A LONG-RUNNING saga over a St Ouen’s Bay restaurant has taken another twist after the owner submitted a fresh attempt to turn it into a café and a single two-bedroom self-catered holiday let.
Nadia Miller has applied for planning permission to make the change to Nude Dunes after a protracted fight over the future of the beachfront building.
Two similar applications by the owner, Nadia Miller, to turn part of the former café and restaurant into a two-bedroom holiday let were refused and subsequent appeals rejected.
Ms Miller is currently running a hatch-style café, which she already has permission for, but the rest of the building is currently empty and unused. She became the proprietor of the building because she had lent money to the owners of the business that previously owned and ran the Nude Dunes restaurant on the site.
In November 2023, Nude Dunes went bust after just five months of trading.
The building remains on the market for rent or purchase with a price on application. Last November, Ms Miller successfully applied to change the use of the beachside site through building bylaws rather than the formal planning process, allowing it to be used as a potential shop, office, beauty salon, travel agent or other retail business.
Speaking about the latest application, Ms Miller said: “We are in dialogue with Planning to find a resolution to avoid any unnecessary spending of public money.
“This application is similar to the 2024 ones, which were refused, but we now have permission to use the building as an office, which changes the dynamic.
“This is all part of a normal process of discussion and negotiation dealing with a complex site which has a difficult 25-year history.”
The application is likely to be determined by the Planning Committee, which will be made up of a fresh group of politicians following the election in June.
Ms Miller added that the toilets within the block were not fit for public use and she was working on a resolution to offer publicly accessible toilets there.
Currently, there is only a temporary toilet at the site.
In 2024, hundreds of people protested against the previous tourist accommodation plans for the location.
