DEVELOPERS are set to launch a new attempt to redevelop a site currently occupied by a landmark hotel.

PegagusLife has confirmed it intends to submit fresh proposals relating to the Lyndhurst Park Hotel, which closed in 2014 with the loss of more than 20 jobs.

It comes just weeks after the company's decision to withdraw its previous proposal resulted in a public inquiry being cancelled at short notice.

A spokesman cited the growing need for housing for older people in the New Forest and said the company planned to submit a new scheme.

The hotel has been at the centre of a long-running dispute between PegasusLife and the New Forest National Park Authority (NPA).

Its initial application to replace the building with 74 sheltered apartments and a dozen holiday homes was rejected by the NPA.

A subsequent proposal for 75 flats and 15 affordable homes was also turned down after sparking 800 objections.

An appeal relating to the second application was due to have been heard at a public inquiry in January but appeal was withdrawn by PegasusLife just weeks before the hearing was scheduled to take place.

Last night a company spokesman told the Daily Echo: "After much consultation we are yet to agree a consensus with key stakeholders.

"We would rather continue to engage with those stakeholders than press on with the appeal.

"We know there is a growing need for over-60s housing in Lyndhurst and the New Forest. We plan to work with the interested parties to draw up a scheme that can be supported by them and the wider community.

"We intend to submit a new scheme in the first part of 2019."

Built as Glasshayes House the hotel was redesigned in 1912 with the help of legendary author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived at nearby Brook.

Campaigner Brice Stafford said: "The Friends of Glasshayes group is eager to work with the developers to find a positive scheme that will benefit the community and do no damage to the heritage of the area.

"Any development must reduce the number of proposed dwellings to under 50, restore the historic portion of the hotel to its 1912 Conan Doyle redesign and incorporate more affordable housing than previously applied for.

"New properties must be built in a style which reflects the predominantly 19th century architecture of the High Street and shuns modernist, urban-style design."