Cherries fans have welcomed the newly unveiled – and long-awaited – plans to build a new south stand.

AFC Bournemouth are planning a major investment including a 36-room hotel aimed at conference bookings and visiting supporters.

Fans interviewed by the Echo during the consultation welcomed the scheme.

Paul Stalker, 59, from Bournemouth, said: “I think the plans are excellent. It’s going to bring work into the area not only during the build but once the hotel is up.

“It will tidy up an eyesore of a car park and benefit the park, the club and the residents.”

Martin Cleever, 36, has been a Cherries fan for three years.

“The improvements will take us to the next club level and prepare us for Championship football and above.”

The ground has a capacity of 9,776. The new stand would have a capacity of around 3,400.

The club went into administration in 1997 and 2008 but people at the consultation seemed happy to see the club spend big for future returns.

Season ticket holder David Meyrick, from Poole, said: “It will certainly improve the ground and hopefully bring more income into the club as away teams can stay at the hotel.

“The stadium looks a bit empty at the moment really.”

Alan Hurt and wife Karen, from Boscombe Cliff Road, agreed.

“I thought it was brilliant,” Mr Hurt said. “It promises a much needed south stand and the hotel looks good.

“It will improve our status as a professional club.”

More than 160 people attended the informal consultation at the Seward Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday evenings when most people the Echo met were fans.

However, resident Christine Syms, 75, from Littledown, said: “I am not very keen on it.

“We are going to have lorries up and down during the building work and there will be added traffic after it is finished.”

Littledown and Iford councillor Lawrence Williams, pictured, said he didn’t think residents had been given enough notice of the consultation.

“People are fed up of football traffic parking nearby,” he added.

The scheme includes car parking reforms taking capacity to 400 and opening up Gloucester Road as an exit.

John Montgomery, of planning consultants Tanner & Tilley, said that the application could be ready by mid-June.