Premier Inn has revealed fresh plans to build a 70-bedroom hotel on a town centre car park, almost three years after a third attempt to win consent with a similar scheme was thrown out.

Whitbread, Premier Inn's parent company, is proposing to invest about £6 million in the new, latest generation hotel which would be built on the Discover Quay car park site off Campbeltown Way - the same location as the previous ill-fated schemes.

The new hotel would create more than 25 new jobs on opening and is predicted to attract approximately 25,000 guests to Falmouth annually.

“We are continuing to commit to Falmouth,” said Paul Smith, regional acquisition manager (South West) for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, who is leading the proposed development. “Port Pendennis is an excellent location for a new Premier Inn. We have reviewed the comments on the initial applications for the site, and have designed an attractive new building which addresses neighbour concerns.”

Whitbread is proposing a five-storey hotel building. The plans include 18-undercroft car parking spaces for the residents of Maritime House and an in-house restaurant and bar on the ground floor facing Discovery Quay. The in-house restaurant will serve a limited menu and is not designed to compete with established restaurants, pubs and cafés in Falmouth.

“The economic benefits of the hotel are significant,” added Paul. “Based on the predicted occupancy of the proposed hotel, we predict a new Premier Inn in Falmouth will generate an additional £1.7 million in visitor expenditure throughout the year, supporting established restaurants, cafés, shops and pubs.

"Our staff recruitment will be focussed locally, and we will also work with our contractors to use local building suppliers where we can. We want to invest in Falmouth and have the potential to bring many long-term benefits.”

The impact on the amenity of residents in neighbouring Fisher Court was one of the reasons for the refusal of the initial planning applications for the site. The new building design has been "more heavily influenced by the architecture of the local area," and features a limited palette of suitable building materials. It will also have a pitched roof and an extended sloping roof elevation facing Fisher Court.

“We have considerable experience of building and managing hotel and restaurant buildings in sensitive locations,” said Paul. “We have exchanged contracts on the Campbeltown Way site and will invest in a high-quality building that reflects our brand and is attractive and welcoming for our customers. Due to the nature of our business we will intensively manage the hotel to ensure any noise is kept to an absolute minimum.”

The proposed site is currently a 39-space car park, 18 of which are reserved for the residents of Maritime House. Under the proposals the guests of the hotel will be encouraged to use sustainable forms of transport or to park in existing public car parks within the town centre.

Falmouth Town Council's planning committee was given a pre-application presentation on the scheme on Monday night. A formal planning application for the new hotel is expected to be submitted to Cornwall Council in the new year and if granted, Premier Inn is aiming to open the new hotel by summer 2018.