DEVELOPERS could be just weeks away from submitting plans to bulldoze a New Forest hotel and replace it with up to 65 flats.

PegasusLife has spent months working on proposals to redevelop a large piece of land occupied by the Lyndhurst Park Hotel, which closed earlier this year with the loss of more than 20 jobs.

The company is planning to send its proposals to the district council once it has finished evaluating the outcome of a public consultation exercise.

A PegasusLife spokesman said: "We are still in the process of considering the plans before finalising our proposals. We will come forward with proposals for the site in the new year."

Based at King's Worthy, near Winchester, the company specialises in building retirement flats for people aged over 55.

Its multi-million pound proposal to replace the 60-bed hotel with flats was revealed in April - and immediately came under fire from organisations in the district.

New Forest Tourism Association and the district council both said they were against the loss of service accommodation.

And the National Park Authority, which will determine the forthcoming planning application for the site, confirmed that its planning policies aimed to prevent the demise of vital community facilities - including hotels.

But PegasusLife defended its proposal to demolish the building, which occupies a landmark site at the eastern entrance to the village.

A spokesman said: "We believe there is a real opportunity to create a ground-breaking development that sits in harmony with its surroundings."

Set in four acres of landscaped grounds, the Lyndhurst Park Hotel has an outdoor tennis court, an oak-panelled restaurant and extensive conference facilities.

It hosted meetings of the New Forest Consultative Panel and several public inquiries, including the one that approved plans to turn the area into a national park.

Built as a private house the building was home to entrepreneur Charles Castleman, the man responsible for the construction of the former Brockenhurst to Ringwood railway line. It is thought to have been converted into a hotel at the end of the 19th century.

The St James Hotel Group bought the three-star facility in March last year.

A few months later they announced that they were selling the loss-making hotel in a deal likely to result in the total redevelopment of the site.