NEW plans to improve staff accommodation for a Lake District hotel have been lodged after previous proposals were turned down for their ‘overbearing’ impact.

GGE Ltd has submitted a planning application to the Lake District National Park Authority to extend two properties on Helm Close in Bowness to provide additional floor area for two houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs).

The homes were purchased with the former Burnside Hotel, now called Lakes Hotel and Spa.

According to planning documents, the proposed additional floor area was to allow for a ‘significant increase’ in bedroom sizes.

Plans state: “As the increased area is utilized to make the accommodation larger there is no increase in the number of rooms but all are better quality and standard.”

The LDNPA rejected the previous proposals and said the proposed extensions would result in the ‘loss of privacy’ and would have an ‘overbearing’ impact on neighbouring properties.

The decision notice said: “The application would therefore fail to avoid an unacceptable impact on the amenity of adjoining residents.”

However, planning documents say this reduced scheme has a two storey extension which is three metres deep (reduced from 4.5m), and the extension to the other property is reduced to three metres deep and only single storey.

Planning documents say the bedroom sizes are small by modern standards and there is only one bathroom and kitchen per property.

The design, access and heritage statement says: “The proposal is to extend both properties providing additional floor area, this will allow for a significant increase in bedroom sizes, and making some of them into suites with their own ensuites.”