A body that looks after England’s heritage has raised concerns a controversial seafront development at Narrowcliff will have a detrimental impact on historic sites.

Historic England believes plans for a 10-storey-high scheme of up to 180 residential units and a 44-bedroom aparthotel will result in harm to the significance of the monuments at Barrowfields due to its scale, mass and height.

The body also raises concerns about demolishing the historic Hotel Bristol to make way for the scheme as it is a locally important building which is one of a dwindling number of Victorian structures that preserve elements of Newquay’s recent past.

The scheme additionally involves demolition of the Narrowcliff Surgery, the former Narrowcliff Hotel and two residential properties.

A spokesman for Historic England said: “The proposal has the potential to harm the significance of the nationally important scheduled barrows which give ‘Barrowfields’ their name, three bowl barrows, once part of a round barrow cemetery, as resulting in the loss of a locally important building that contributes positively to the Newquay ‘townscape’ and to its ‘seascape’.

“Bowl barrows are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC). 

“Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. 

“The three barrows at Barrowfields remain the last surviving barrows of a once large, extensive and important group situated on the coast. 

“They will contain further archaeological and environmental evidence.” 

The spopkesman said the Hotel Bristol serves as “an important reminder of the Victorian resort and townscape”.

“The current proposals bear no relation to the scale of the existing hotel, health centre, or adjacent buildings and will dominate the skyline and townscape, dwarfing and ‘enclosing’ the seafront, eroding the open nature of the Barrowfields and scheduled barrows.”

He described the scale as “incongruous.”