"WE desperately need a hotel". That was the plea from exasperated town councillors as Petersfield's long-running tourist accommodation saga continued this week. Now hopes are being pinned on a new scheme to build a 31-bed hotel next to The Red Lion pub in the town centre. But Petersfield Town Council's planning committee has seen numerous plans come and go, with permissions and refusals, yet the town still has no hotel. At a meeting earlier this week committee members reserved judgement on the latest application, from Hackwood Assets, and asked for greater clarification from district planners. George Watkinson told colleagues: "We are very, very pro-hotel but given the procrastination of the last two applications on the Red Lion site that we thought were going through I want to know where we stand with this." He added that two years ago the town council lost a large conference booking at the Festival Hall because there was no hotel facility in the town. Councillors raised concerns that some of the aspects of the current plans were similar to the aspects objected to in the last scheme that was refused permission in 2002. And the proposed car parking arrangements started alarm bells ringing. Mr Watkinson said the current idea of leasing spaces from the adjoining district council-owned Festival Hall car park was one reason the 2002 scheme was rejected. And councillor Mary Vincent said that car parking spaces were already at a premium when the Festival Hall was staging a large event or production. But the committee was impressed by design elements of the present plans that also includes eight flats and three new shops. "This is nicer looking. It is not as blocky as the last one," said Mrs Vincent. "The sort of people who would stay there would be coming from the ports and going on to London and the North." And committee chairman Paul Molloy welcomed the redevelopment of disused buildings on the site. He said: "The most important thing is to get these redundant buildings back into operation again, and the fact that we do need a hotel." The committee has now asked for a briefing by district planning officers on the proposals before making its comments. A final decision on the plans is set to be made by East Hampshire District Council next month. The lack of hotel accommodation has been a long running issue in the town, exacerbated by the proposed South Downs National Park, a move that could turn Petersfield into a tourism hotspot. As far back as 2001 a Hampshire County Council study identified the need for more town-centre tourist accommodation as well as a "country house" style hotel. And in 2002 plans to redevelop the Adhurst St Mary estate creating an 85-bed country house hotel were welcomed with open arms by district planners. But those plans fell by the wayside last summer when the owners of the 18th Century estate, built by the Bonham Carter family, submitted new £15m plans to convert the house into a smaller 46-bed hotel and create 12 new houses. Agents for the owners said the previous scheme had stalled because of uncertainty in the tourism sector following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. District planners were set to consider the 46- bed hotel application for Adhurst St Mary last night (Thursday). Plans to build a 37-room Travel Inn at the site of the Red Lion Pub in College Street were halted in 1998 after planners raised concerns over the car parking in the area. Later plans for a small hotel at the White Hart in College Street were abandoned because then landlord John White believed he was being asked for too much in developer's contributions. And plans for an 84-bedroom hotel on land near the new McDonalds were withdrawn by the American chain Days Inn after it had looked set for refusal because of its size and design.
