Lyndhurst 'Conan Doyle' hotel plans approved

The former hotel building has been disused since 2014

A former hotel with links to Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is set to be redeveloped after plans for a housing scheme were approved.

Hoburne Development proposes 79 home on the site of the Lyndhurst Park Hotel in the New Forest village.

It bought the site in 2019 after its then-owner failed to win approval to demolish it to build retirement flats.

The plans were given the go-ahead at a meeting of the New Forest National Park Authority's planning committee.

Archive drawings by Conan Doyle appear to show plans for the building which became a hotel in the 1920s

The redevelopment includes the part-demolition of the existing hotel building and retention of its "historic elements".

The building was originally a private mansion - Glasshayes House - built in the early 19th Century but has been disused since the hotel closed in 2014.

Campaigners - including the Victorian Society - had called for the building to be protected after sketches of it by Conan Doyle, dating to 1912, emerged.

Applications to have it listed were declined by Historic England.

Plans by the building's previous owner PegasusLife to build retirement flats were twice rejected by the New Forest National Park Authority (NPA), which said the development would not "cater for local needs".

The block incorporating parts of the existing building would include seven homes

Hoburne said it planned to demolish the modern extensions to the building.

"The historic elements of the former hotel would be retained and reinstated to their former glory, thus leading to considerable enhancements to both the site and the conservation area," the plans said.

The proposals will also see three retail units built along the high street and parking for 115 cars.