A HISTORIC hotel in the city centre will have a further 28 bedrooms and new function rooms if plans get the go-ahead on Thursday.

The White Hart in St John’s Street wants to remodel and extend an existing building on site to provide 28 guest bedrooms and build a new function room and dining room in place of an existing single-storey building.

While the 18th century hotel is a Grade II* listed building, the proposal primarily involves the remodelling of the hotel’s 1970s bedroom wing by infilling the parking undercroft and building a third-storey extension.

At the moment, the hotel says there are “at least 120 nights” every year when it does not have enough bedrooms to satisfy demands.

If the plans get approved at the Southern Area Planning Committee on Thursday, it will mean the hotel will have a total of 96 bedrooms.

Planning officers recommend permission subject to conditions, noting that the new plans have addressed concerns expressed in earlier unsuccessful schemes for the site.

However, neighbours still object over noise concerns, loss of privacy and alleged “overbearing impact”.

Salisbury Civic Society has voiced concern over the formation of a new entrance at the back of the hotel which “turns a quiet, central space into a destination”.

It believes the entrance on St John’s Street would be left “all but redundant" pointing to a reversal of the building’s orientation with plans to welcome visitors at the rear in a new main entrance and reception area.

It also described the new design as “heavier and bulkier” and “more monolithic” than previous designs, adding that there was a danger the new development could begin to resemble “any other generic out-oftown hotel chain”.

The Ancient Monuments Society says the application will damage the listed status of the hotel but Historic England said the amended plans have broadly addressed its concerns.

But the latter is concerned over the mansard roof – one with four sloping sides – which, it says, is “not normally an accepted roof form associated with Salisbury”.

The hotel says that once complete, the extension would create eight new full-time jobs.

Plans for listed building consent for the site will also be decided at the meeting on Thursday at 6pm at City Hall.