NEW plans to extend a hotel in Highcliffe have been submitted – three months after a previous application was refused due to concerns about its impact on two protected trees.

Premier Inn is still seeking permission for a three-storey, 18-bedroom addition to the main Lymington Road building but has moved the development away from the protected oaks.

But it said its reduced size would allow an “appropriate and harmonious” gap to be created between the trees.

Under the new plans, the scale of the extension would be decreased by about a sixth – with the same number of extra beds provided but more of the existing car park would be lost.

If approved and built, the hotel would increase to 79 bedrooms with the number of parking spaces reducing to 91.

Concerns were raised when the original application was submitted that the chain was dominating the hotel market.

These were dismissed by BCP Council which said the principle of the development was acceptable.

Despite this, the application was refused by planning officer Sophie Mawdsley who said it would have “inevitably” led to pressure to prune or cut down the trees.

“The proposed development would have an adverse impact on two mature oak trees and prejudice their future longevity from future pressure to prune or fell,” she said.

“This is not outweighed by the fact that the principle of the development is sound; the design and form of the building is acceptable; and the economic benefits of the hotel extension.”

She added that the parking arrangements outlined in the plans were “acceptable” and that fears about the loss of a footpath to the north of the hotel were unfounded.

A tree survey submitted with the latest application says the new proposals would have a “small, if not negligible” impact with a 5m gap left between the trees and the extension.

The new application will be considered by council planning officers in the coming weeks.