Council planners will hold a public meeting to elicit opinion on designs for a new hotel in Falmouth, whose site was rendered a smouldering shell following a fire earlier this year.
In April the Falmouth Beach Hotel went up in flames after a blaze accidentally broke out. Guests and staff escaped unhurt from the burning building at Gyllyngvase, on the seafront.
Such was the force of the inferno that just 16 bedrooms of the 120-room hotel were saved – the remnants were later levelled to pave the way for a new structure.
Later this month Cornwall Council will hold a public meeting in the town to hear from local residents about the new design.
Members of the Council's strategic planning committee said they wanted to listen to public opinion on the planning application.
Plans include 74 bedrooms, a restaurant and car parking facilities on the car park site, at Campbeltown Way, Port Pendennis, in the town.
A spokesman for the council said it was important that local residents had their say over the proposals.
She said: "All are welcome and on arrival will be able to register their wish to speak.
"Anyone who attends the meeting who wishes to express their views on the planning application to the strategic planning committee will be asked to register on arrival and will then be called upon to speak. The public meeting is an opportunity for councillors to hear from local people on all sides of the debate – no decision will be taken on the day."
Planning applications will be considered by the committee at a future council meeting at County Hall, Truro.
The hotel is part of the Best Western Group and is owned by the Evans family. When disaster struck the family vowed to rebuild the hotel "bigger and better" than ever before.
Flames broke out on April 30 and were fanned by powerful winds. More than 100 firefighters fought the blaze at its height using ten pumps. The fire happened on the third floor of the four-storey building.
Initial reports suggested it was started accidentally by workmen carrying out repairs in one of the bedrooms.
A Cornwall Fire Service spokesman said: "We carried out a preliminary investigation following the fire and will be taking no further action.
"Fire investigators determined that the fire was started accidentally, caused by a gas blow torch which was being used during work to repair a balcony on the second floor."
The public meeting will be held at Falmouth School, Trescobeas Road, Falmouth on Monday, November 12, starting at 6pm.
