A DEVELOPER has increased the size of a hotel and restaurant complex it wants to build on the edge of the New Forest.

Stoneclose Ltd is now seeking consent to build 28 hotel and leisure suites on the former site of the Flying Boat Inn in Calshot, which closed in the 1990s and later burned down.

Three years ago New Forest District Council gave Stoneclose outline planning permission to build a 24-room hotel on the site.

But Calshot is now part of the area administered by the New Forest National Park Authority, which will determine the company's new proposal.

Like the original scheme the latest application also includes a pub, a restaurant and a function room.

Jon Holmes, chairman of Calshot Neighbourhood Group, said: "Planning permission for a hotel on the site was granted several years ago and everyone was quite surprised when nothing happened.

"Stoneclose has now submitted a new application that includes an extra four rooms, which might make the scheme more viable.

"I don't think residents will have a problem with the scheme. It would be nice to have a pub back in the village and a restaurant would be good as well."

The Flying Boat Inn was originally the officers' mess for RAF Calshot, the former flying boat base that is now Calshot Activities Centre.

The pub's interior was decorated with old photographs of pilots and aircraft, including those that took part in the famous Schneider Trophy races.

Mr Holmes added: "The Flying Boat burned down in 2001 and was eventually demolished, leaving a large pile of rubble.

"The site was cleared about two years ago and only the pub's foundations remain."

Stoneclose submitted its first application shortly after the district council ditched plans to build 200 homes on the site.