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Controversial plans to transform a vacant restaurant at La Pulente into tourist accommodation and a beach café have officially been submitted.
The shuttered Nude Dunes could undergo a “partial change of use” from the existing restaurant into a “mixed-use facility” that will combine a café with new self-catering tourist accommodation, if the plans are approved.
The proposed designs show the conversion of the restaurant into two bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, and a bathroom – while retaining a portion of the café to continue serving visitors and locals.
It had already emerged last month that the owners were intending to apply for permission for the change of use, after failing to find a buyer for the site as a restaurant.
Pictured: Deputy Tadier at the protest outside Nude Dunes. (Dave Ferguson)
The news sparked a protest at the site, organised by St Brelade Deputy Montfort Tadier, which saw hundreds of islanders show support for the protection of the bay and the wider coastline from privatisation and over-development.
Deputy Tadier said that it was "entirely inappropriate" for the restaurant to become a private dwelling, whether that was as tourist accommodation or otherwise.
The applicants, however, argue in their submission that the renovation is a way to "bring the premises into productive use".
The Planning Statement, put together by the Island Planning Consultancy on behalf of the applicant, said the proposals were part of the owner's exploration of "options on making the café a viable business and to bring the premises into productive use".
This accommodation would "complement and diversify" the café business, it said, and came after there were "no reasonable offers" for sale or rent of the site in its current form.
The application said: "The aim is to provide unique self-catering holiday accommodation with fantastic views across St Ouen's Bay.
"A scaled-down café would remain on the site, focusing on being a 'beach café' where customers can sit on the existing terrace at the north of the premises, or take food and drink away to enjoy on the beach."
Pictured: The designs for accommodation and a cafe.
The renovations are mainly internal, with the dining areas converted into two bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, a bathroom, and an office/circulation space.
Some "minor" external changes include removing the extractor fan, installing a privacy screen and creating a dedicated parking space allocated to the proposed tourist accommodation.
It stressed that the public toilets would be retained.
The application added: "The proposal is to make the premises economically viable to allow the café to re-open, albeit in a scaled-down form. The kitchen would be retained at the same size and the northern terrace would be used to provide external seating for the café.
"The proposal would bring these parts of the vacant premises back into productive use."
Applicants also referred to similar site permissions which had been granted, including Hameau d'Orge, La Rue de la Robeline in St Ouen, and the Navigator Restaurant in Trinity.
"The planning history of the site reflects a progressive adaptation of the use of the site, transitioning from a public toilet to a café, and now towards a combined use that includes tourist accommodation," it said.
"This evolution is aimed at maximising the site's potential and aligning with current economic and recreational trends."
The document ends with presenting planning officers with the "hypothetical scenario" in which the site had remained a toilet block: "Would there then have been policy support to convert and extend the toilet block to provide visitor accommodation?"
The application argues that "such a proposal would likely have received considerable support".
Public comments have already been pouring in over the course of the morning, most of them in resistance to the application.
Carol Saunders wrote: "The original planning consent was given for a restaurant. That should stand. A private dwelling on that site would cause all sorts of problems."
Lesley Bratch said the permission should "absolutely not be allowed".
"Our island is rapidly losing itself to those who have the money and the power," she added.
Others expressed concern about public access to toilets and the beach.
But one islander spoke in support, saying that transfer to holiday accommodation was "the most sensible way forward".
The former toilet block at La Pulente was sold off by the States for around £100,000 in 2014.
It was purchased by Nude Food, run by local couple Lucy Morris and Jackson Lowe, in January 2023. After a massive redevelopment of the site, it opened as a restaurant in June 2023.
A popular nearby kiosk, The Hideout, used to be based close to the toilets but moved further down the slipway access road when work to redevelop the building began.
The kiosk was forced to close in October 2023 after a battle with the parish of St Brelade over its lease.
At the time, Constable Mike Jackson said that the Hideout was only meant to operate until the Nude Dunes restaurant opened.
The owner of the café, Karl Sutton, described his dispute with the parish as a "David and Goliath battle" which he did not want to repeat.
But less than six months after opening, Nude Food ceased trading, meaning both of its restaurants – at La Pulente and St Aubin – were forced to close.
The La Pulente site went on the market for £3.5 million last year, until Le Rossignol Estates more recently started exclusively marketing the site at the significantly lower sum of £2.2 million.
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