A PRESTIGIOUS hotel has submitted plans for a staff accommodation block within Dartmoor National Park.

The world renowned Bovey Castle near Moretonhampstead is seeking outline planning permission from the National Park Authority to build accommodation for 20 staff within shuttle distance of the hotel.

The proposed 1.5ha site presently comprises a wooded area with two pairs of derelict semi-detached residential bungalows with associated gardens and a driveway. If approved the plan would see a cluster of 20 single bed flats replace the tumbledown properties

The application site is set adjacent to the lane running from the hotel south towards North Bovey. Although just 600 yards away as the crow flies, the application states that in bad weather staff would be shuttled the one-mile journey to and from the main hotel building.

The application states: ‘The dwellings are to be utilised by the Bovey Castle Hotel to fill the gap in a local housing shortage for its staff to rent at a subsidised rate.

‘Hotel staff are required throughout the National Park for tourism and the close proximity to the hotel, who work late shifts, is vital for their safety and well being, a short bicycle ride or walk to the hotel relieves the road of unnecessary local commuting.

‘The hotel can easily organise a shuttle service as required in the bad weather.’

Residents have complained the poposal would intrude on the landscape, incur the destruction of woodland and increase traffic on a country lane used by walkers, cyclists, and horse riders.

► For full details and to comment on the application go to https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/living-and-working/planning/search-for-an-application and enter reference 0325/22