PLANS to convert a former hotel in Grange-over-Sands into 30 new homes go back before council planners on Thursday.

The scheme for the former Graythwaite Manor Hotel on Fernhill Road was withdrawn earlier this month but will be decided by South Lakeland District Council.

Chorley-based Blackmores Ltd wants to build 32 new dwellings consisting of 17 apartments, 15 new houses and 59 car parking spaces.

Five of the properties are said to be “affordable” – including three one-bedroom flats and two three-bedroom houses.

SLDC planners have recommended that the new development gets the go-ahead but with 11 planning conditions.

The applicants want to convert the building, part-demolish some of the later extensions and reconstruct the existing hotel building to create the new homes.

Grange Town Council has objected and pointed out that the site falls outside the town’s “development boundary”.

The town council said this means it “contravenes” both SLDC’s land allocation policy and Grange’s neighbourhood plan.

A report from council officers to go before SLDC’s planning committee concedes that the project comprises “a departure” from the development plan, but officers are recommending it get the go-ahead.

Of 42 neighbours consulted, 28 people have expressed views.

Among the objections are that the number of homes planned for the hotel is “excessive,” and that Grange does not need any more new housing.

Others have said there is “no justification” for the loss of the original hotel and it could impact on the economic growth of Grange.

However, the applicants have told the council that the amount of investment needed to bring the hotel up to standard has prevented it from being re-opened as a viable business.

Planning officers have noted that the work needed to fix the hotel, which shut in 2012, is “evident”.

Papers to go before the planning committee said there are 60 households wanting properties in the area and more than half need at least one bedroom.

The Cartmel peninsula area, including Grange, Cartmel and Lindale, is said to need 150 new homes over the next five years, equivalent to 30 a year.

The site was originally the base for a small country house in 1899 and was converted to a hotel in the 1930s.