An application to make radical alterations to a key Victorian Sheringham building looks set to fail today.

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) planning officers are recommending that the plan, for partial demolition, six new flats and a single-storey rear extension at the Burlington Hotel, should be refused.

Owner Steve McDermott wants to plough money from the flat sales into a much-needed full refurbishment of the seafront hotel, and the rebuilding of the bar and toilets at the back of the building, with parking below.

The six-storey Burlington is Sheringham's only remaining large period hotel still in use for its original purpose.

NNDC had deferred making a decision on the plans last November so that more negotiations could take place over the design of the roof and windows, plus problems with loss of privacy for neighbours.

Amended plans, which will be considered by today's development committee, show that the roof design has been altered to follow the same line and height of the existing building.

And small square windows on the front have been turned 45 deg so that they become diamond shaped.

But planning officers say the improvements are not enough.

They support the idea of an extension, so that funds can be raised to maintain the important hotel, but back objections from English Heritage and the council's conservation and design department, saying that the applicant had failed to show that the plan would not result in 'significant harm to the historic significance of the Burlington Hotel and the Sherngham Conservation Area.'

The applicant had also failed to show that the scheme would not have a 'significant detrimental impact' on the privacy and amenities of neighbours', according to a report to this morning's committee.

Sheringham Town Council has accepted the roof-line improvements but still objects to the plan, believing that the extension is: 'unacceptable, as it is out of keeping for this iconic building and not sympathetically designed, and there should be better use of the proposed materials.'

The Burlington was built in the early 1890s, following the railway boom, as one of three substantial hotels including the Sheringham Hotel, built in 1889 on the Holt Road and Weybourne Road junction, and the Grand Hotel, on The Esplanade.

The other two hotels closed after the 1960s and 1970s.