THE future of a well-known South Hams hotel is to be decided by councillors next week, as they consider whether the economic benefit of its expansion outweigh a 'significantly adverse impact' on the landscape.

Members of South Hams Council Development Management Committee will meet on Wednesday, January 14, to decide whether to grant permission for the expansion of the Cottage Hotel, Hope Cove.

The owners want to redevelop and extend the hotel, which occupies a prominent position overlooking the sea, from the current 32 rooms to 56. As well as the additional rooms, it would boast a new multi-level restaurant, lounge bar, function rooms, and a conference centre, as well as a three-bedroom apartment for the owners.

The application has received support in the local area and from further afield, with more than 100 letters of support written to South Hams Council.

Those writing say the hotel needs to modernise and expand in order to survive and is an integral part of the community, and the tourist industry.

But around 50 people also wrote to the council objecting, including residents of neighbouring properties who will be significantly affected by the plans.

Others say the proposed building will dominate the village, and raise concerns over how the sewerage system would cope.

Planning officers at South Hams Council have recommended that the DMC refuses the application. In his report to the committee, the council's development manager Malcolm Elliott, states: 'The proposed development, by reason of its overall size, height and massing, would have an overbearing and bulky visual impact on the character and setting of Hope Cove village.

'Such development would, in addition, have a most significantly adverse impact on the wider landscape setting of the village within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.'

The report adds that the planned building would have an 'unduly overbearing and unneighbourly impact' on an adjoining dwelling.

The proposals would see the building, which faces west, extended both to the north and south, with new floors built into the hillside along part of the seaward side. The overall footprint of the hotel and car park would increase by 55 per cent, from 2547 square metres to 3951 square metres.

Because of its location, the hotel is extremely prominent when seen from Bolt Tail, a scheduled ancient monument where there relics from the Iron Age.

However, the planning application says the work is necessary 'to ensure the future of this iconic hotel', and states that the staff complement would increase from 28 to 70 if the redevelopment goes ahead.