PLANS for a new 102-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and 190-seater Brewers Fayre restaurant in Minehead have been approved.

Members of West Somerset Council’s planning committee gave the go-ahead for the £3.8 million construction project last Thursday.

As revealed in the Free Press in February, the development will be built on land off Seaward Way, close to the town’s community hospital.

The project is expected to create around 84 temporary construction jobs and, once completed, 49 full-time equivalent jobs in the hotel and restaurant.

Whitbread, the firm behind the plans, is also forecasting an annual £900,000 “uplift” to the local economy, with visitors anticipated to spend £850,000 in the area.

The district council would also receive an additional £42,500 in business rates from the venture.

“The provision of the hotel and restaurant/pub will provide accommodation and additional facilities for both existing residents and tourists, as well as providing 60 full time jobs - this will help in maintaining Minehead as a sustainable town,” planning officer Elizabeth Peeks told planning committee members.

She said the site was within the development limits of Minehead and recommended councillors to approve the application.

In a report to the committee she said: “There will be no overlooking, loss of light to any habitable rooms or overbearing impact of the proposed development on the nearest property, Minehead Hospital.”

While the hotel would be open 24 hours a day, the restaurant would open from 6.30am to midnight on weekdays and from 7.30am to midnight at weekends.

Members of the Minehead Hospitality Association, which represents a number of B and Bs in the town, had objected to the proposal, fearing it would affect trade and increase traffic on the A39 and A358.

The organisation said there was already over-capacity in the hotel and restaurant industry in Minehead during the winter months and warned the development could lead to local job losses.