Plans to turn a disused hotel into 61 new homes are to be considered by councillors.

The Bobsleigh Hotel, in Bovingdon, closed in 2014 – after owners Macdonald Hotels said it was “no longer operating at a viable level”.

The building, in Hempstead Road, is now said to be used only for ‘low key office administration’.

Before and after the closure of the 46-bed hotel, applications were made to demolish and redevelop the venue – which were refused.

Councillors will tomorrow night be asked whether it could be partly demolished and replaced with a residential development of 36 apartments and 24 houses – with the original ‘main’ part of the hotel retained and converted into flats.

As part of the plans, occupied mobile homes – on the adjoining area of the plot – would be relocated to a different part of the site.

And the ‘stable lodge’ – previously used as staff accommodation – would be converted into a new home too.

In a report to Dacorum Borough Council’s development management committee, planning officers say the hotel complex is “inevitably showing significant signs of decline at a key visual gateway to both Bovingdon and Hemel Hempstead”.

“A once vibrant site is in the need of significant reinvigoration,” says the report. “The proposed residential development provides such an opportunity.”

But Bovingdon Parish Council has objected to the plans as “over-development” of the site.

It welcomes the retention of the hotel building but says the two large blocks fronting Hempstead Road will have a greater height and density and are set too close to the road.

They say these proposed flats are “out of keeping” with the street. And they say they are “concerned” at proposals to put houses behind it on a ‘large area of undeveloped Green Belt’.

At this stage applicants Macdonald Hotels and Resorts is seeking outline permission only, relating to the access, layout and scale of the plans.

And, if approved, they would need to return to the council for detailed planning permission – including elements such as appearance and landscaping – at a later stage.

However, according to the report to the committee, the application could be ‘called-in’ for the Secretary of State to determine, due to the impact of relocating the two mobile homes.

Dacorum Council’s development management committee will meet to consider the plans on Thursday (August 15) at 7pm. The meeting is open to the public.