LONG-standing plans to build a hotel and hotel training school in Bournemouth look set to get the green light after a comprehensive redesign.

Proposals for what would be the UK’s first hotel school, on a prime town centre site adjacent to the BIC, were refused last year after the design was deemed to be too tall and overbearing.

But a fresh attempt, which will go before the councils’ planning committee on Thursday, has been more favourably received.

Principal planning officer Steve Davies is recommending permission be granted and said the design was “more elegant” than before, although still very bold.

“To sum up I would say that any slight reservations I have about the appearance and scale do not outweigh the benefits of establishing a good quality hotel next to and integral to the Bournemouth International Conference Centre,” his report states. “The building will provide a new landmark complementary to, and giving new life to, the dated BIC.”

The council’s urban design officer also prefers the new design, which changes the building from a geometric grid and square facade to a curved building that reflects the natural curve of the corner site.

The size has also been reduced so that it now contains 200 bedrooms, compared to the 229 it had before.

The Bournemouth Civic Society has voiced support for the new design, while the only objection comes from the managing director of the Royal Exeter Hotel, who complains it will have a negative impact on this listed building.

As well as a 200-room hotel, the scheme also proposes 221 car park spaces for the hotel and 105 public car parking spaces as an extension of the BIC car park.