PLANS for a £6million hotel, shops and restaurant complex on the site of a historic hotel in Clacton town centre have been dismissed by a planning inspector.

East-West Design and Build wanted to construct a new seven-storey building made up of a 51-unit aparthotel along with three retail or restaurant units at the site of the former Osborne Hotel in Rosemary Road.

The developer was given permission to demolish the former eyesore building, but ruled proposals for a new building were not in keeping with the conservation areas.

London-based developer Royston Simons appealed against the council’s decision to refuse the new building.

But following an appeal hearing independent planning inspector Jonathon Parsons has now backed the council.

He ruled the design was “bulky and domineering” and “markedly at odds within the traditional buildings in the conservation area”.

He also ruled the development would “harm the living conditions of the occupiers of neighbouring properties on Beach Road”.

Developer Royston Simons said the plans were needed to help regenerate the site, which had become an eyesore and a magnet for antisocial behaviour before it was demolished.

He had called on planners to approve blueprints for the “green oasis” in the rundown area as part of a £6million development, which would have created 25 jobs.

Mr Simons said he was now undecided over what to do with the site.

“There’s no animosity with the council - we do want to work with them,” he said.

“I would like to build something there in memory of my mother, who was a Clacton resident. I have got big ties to Clacton.

“They’re being stringent because it’s a conservation area, but - not meaning to be detrimental - it is run down.

“It’s such a shame. It would have been a landmark development and could have encouraged others to invest in the town.

“They want us to replicate a twee town house there, but it needs to be of a large scale to work.”

“Despite the current economic siltation, I still am prepared to do something there.”

The former Osborne Hotel included the first villas to be built in Clacton in 1871.

It became the Nelson pub in 1985 and later the Sandles Inn Chinese restaurant before closing and becoming derelict in 2012.