HOARDINGS have gone up around a derelict Bournemouth hotel announcing its demolition.

It has been 10 months since permission was granted to knock down the former Belvedere Hotel in Bath Road in favour of a £40m development.

Malmaison Hotel du Vin and Fresh Lime Developments plan to open a new hotel on the site, with work starting next year. Fresh Lime will also build a block of flats.

The Belvedere was built in around 1860 as an Italianate villa, in keeping with numerous other properties around Bournemouth at the time.

Since then it has undergone many alterations, including replacement windows and the addition of a mansard-style roof, which have destroyed much of its appeal as a heritage building. It has been empty for two years.

The hotel hit the headlines in June last year when seven people, believed to be rough sleepers, were rescued from the building during a fire, the cause of which is unknown but believed to be accidental.

Permission for the demolition attracted some controversy from councillors and hoteliers due to a perceived lack of parking spaces in the plans, with only 11 designated for the new hotel.

Malmaison is a "luxury boutique" hotel chain that has 16 hotels throughout the UK.

The Malmaison hotel development, expected to create some 85 new jobs, will contain more than 100 bedrooms and suites and the Chez Mal Bar and Brasserie, with a rooftop bar and terrace overlooking the seafront.

There will be a gym, swimming pool and beauty spa rooms, as well as private meeting 'pods' for hire.

The hotel application is also at the centre of a row over the disclosable pecuniary interests of Bournemouth council leader John Beesley, after 10 councillors submitted a complaint to the borough, which has since been passed on to the police.

Cllr Beesley has said he worked for Fresh Lime as a hospitality consultant on the scheme, and that his work is correctly declared in his register of interests.

The complaint alleged that he had not declared his interests correctly and is ongoing.

Building work, which is expected to take approximately 24 months, will start in early 2018.