MULTI-MILLION-pound plans for a clifftop hotel at Burton Bradstock are expected to get the thumbs-up today – bringing dozens of new jobs and a massive boost for the local economy.

Business partners Mary-Lou Sturridge and Anthony Mackintosh want to demolish the existing Burton Cliff Hotel and build a plush, 22-bedroomed replacement with a public restaurant.

Operating as The Seaside Hotel Company the plan is to offer nostalgia holidays – turning the clocks back to the days of the Famous Five and E. Nesbit, concentrating on ‘old-fashioned values’.

Their previous plan for a 27-bed hotel on the site with a retro 20s-style facade was withdrawn after planners warned it was unlikely to win consent.

Now a less radical and smaller design – similar to the existing building – is being recommended for approval when it goes before the district council’s planning committee today.

Councillors will hear 57 letters of support – many from those in the local tourist industry, as well as one from the hotel’s famous neighbour, singer and political activist Billy Bragg.

This week Ms Sturridge, who lives in Mapperton, said they were thrilled at the level of support for their new venture and were keeping fingers crossed the planners would back it.

“We are so pleased because we have worked so hard to get this far and we really pray the committee will approve it,” she said.

If they get the go-ahead the partners hope to have the new hotel and its public restaurant open by the spring of 2011.

It will be the first new hotel built in West Dorset for decades.

Members of the development control committee will be told that it will replace the existing building which was originally a private house and lacked many facilities after its conversion to a 19-bed hotel, with only 11 en suite rooms.

The report adds: “The replacement will provide 22 en suite rooms, 16 in a principal three-storey building positioned in the approximate location of the existing building and a further six in a single-storey annexe.

Letters supporting the plans stress the new hotel and restaurant will provide many new jobs and boost tourism in the area.

Billy Bragg will tell the committee: “My partner and I would like to register our support... we believe that the new hotel would bring substantial benefits to the area in terms of facilities and employment.

“While the new hotel would clearly be of benefit to tourism in West Dorset we also believe that it would benefit the villagers of Burton Bradstock, helping to fill the gap left by the demise of the Dove public house a few years ago.”

Other VIP backers of the project include top chef Mark Hix and the Earl and Countess of Sandwich.

Four letters of objection have been sent – most concerning the narrow access road and fears that the tranquil nature of the area will be affected.

Senior planning officer Andrew Martin is recommending approval and will tell councillors he believes the hotel will bring considerable benefits to the local economy.