I've just got back from the Concourse myself and I have to say I was impressed with the design. The hotel will be situated on the pay and display carpark and will be around 4 floors high (thats about the same height as the yellow block of victorian flats further along the prom).
The sailing school will be on the site of the existing sailing school (this is the wavey designed building shown in some of the promotional material). The footprint for this building will be slightly larger that the existing building, so I think it will encroach on some of the car park (but not a lot). The sailing school will on the whole be a single storey design with the central part being two storey's, so a wind shadow shouldn't be an issue (i think it will be less that the current building).
The developers seem very interested to hear everyones views (I dont remember getting the same consultation for other developments like the wind farm), so hats off to them!

Changed my original message. Having checked on Google Earth where the hotel is going, and that the sailing school is only slightly larger than the existing footprint, can't really see a problem, except for acces to carpark during construction.

I've also visited the consultation; development looks great to me. Exactly what West Kirby needs and an investment of the scale they're planning can only be positive. Whilst it's great to be able to have a look at the proposals at this early stage, I didn't think the consultation was particularly well run though. Alan Beer was sat down at a seat in a corner for starters (which is the first no - no of doing a consultation!) so he was getting it in the neck from a very small minority without being able to politely make his excuses to talk to the majority!

There were a few but very vocal wingers at the consultation as I said when I was there, but I think it's key that in addition to placing notes of support on this website that we also e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) to say we're in support (it can only help their planning application).

In addition, as an ex-Civil Engineer (now work for a developer myself although not Carpenter Investments!) I believe an Underground Car Park is perfectly feasible at the location proposed providing it's well tanked. Just means it will be an expensive one.

I don't know how complete support can be given on the level of plans exhibited, the impact on licence fees is unknown due to the change of ownership, and how far will the new developments actually encroach onto the marine lake carpark?

Even with the underground parking there is a large net loss due to hotel resident parking, staff parking and parking for special events such as weddings. To compensate for this loss the council will be reducing the width of the prom pavement (check out the marks on the kerb) to allow herring bone parking and are introducing a 460 space 4 storey car park behind the concourse, funded by a new retail development. (Check out the _link_ I posted earlier). These developments are direcly as a result of the hotel development, as described on page 100 of the master plan. This council have deliberately kept this part quiet.

Comparing the hieght of the hotel to the yellow flats is unfair, the new hotel will be 100m long, the same length as the main Hibre Court block and with a flat roof it will be a much more massive structure, at least twice the hieght of the adjacent streets. Maybe you can see why there are some wingers...

My hazy recollection of the impact of obstructions, both to the windward and leeward side is roughly 9 times the height of the obstruction, so there will be a major impact at the car park end.

No matter how well tanked an underground car park is, water will still get in through the entrance during a 10m tide with a Westerly. It's bad enough getting the wheels rusty but I don't fancy dents on the roof from floating and bouncing off the soffit.

To be fair the carpark that's being referred to is the council carpark by Morrisions, not the marine lake.