A £12m luxury country house hotel will be built in Sheet and will see the Victorian estate of Adhurst St Mary restored to its former glory.

The house, built by the Bonham-Carter family, will be transformed into a massive 85-bed hotel complex complete with fitness suite, tennis courts, conference facilities and a pavillion.

Councillors welcomed the plans at a meeting of East Hampshire District CouncilÕs south planning committee last week and were impressed by the design proposals for restoring and extending the 18th century listed building.

The Victorian house would be restored under the plan and the main listed rooms would become the public function areas.

Mr John Venning said; ÒI think the design is splendid. It certainly does not detract from, and may well enhance, the original house.Ó

These were views echoed by chairman Sue Halstead who thought that members felt refreshed by such a high quality scheme coming forward.

With restoration costs, including the house and landscaping, set to reach £3m alone, planning officer Mr Jeremy Heppell told the committee that the plans were an exciting opportunity to restore the listed building and that a proposal of this type was the only option to do this.

Although most committee members agreed with the restoration, the scheme did meet some opposition.

Councillor Anna James said that while using a hotel development was one way to ensure the house was restored, it was not the only option, citing that actress Kate Winslet was currently restoring a country property in Wiltshire.

Mrs James said; ÒMaybe this is one option, but that does not mean it is the only option. I cannot support this as it is.Ó

The original house is set to be extended to form an enclosed courtyard with the 85 bedrooms situated in the new buildings.

The estate itself lies on a notorious junction of the old A3 with the A272 to Rogate that has seen a number of serious accidents in recent years.

Mr Chris Walton, Hampshire County CouncilÕs assistant development control co-ordinator, told councillors that Òdoing nothing was not an optionÓ because of the increased traffic levels that the hotel would bring.

Traffic lights will be introduced at the junction to regulate the traffic and areas of the carriageway will be reclaimed and landscaped to reduce the environmental impact.

Another option that was considered was a roundabout but Mr Walton said due to the speeds on this unrestricted road it would be impractical.

He said the effect of the street lighting needed for a roundabout Òwould be not far short of St MaryÕs stadium when Southampton FC are playing at homeÓ.

Developers had wanted to split the existing driveway, building a new access road for incoming traffic through the grounds but this was dismissed by the committee, who felt the current drive could cope if passing places were included.

Plans also include the resoration of the estate grounds, that were badly storm damaged in 1987 and 1989.

The original walled garden will be developed to include buildings and three tennis courts, an idea that some felt was unwise.

But Mr Richard Hope backed their inclusion.

ÒGuests paying this sort of money would expect first class facilities,Ó he said.