Plans have been submitted for a proposed extension to a budget hotel in the city which lies close to the Roman Catholic Cathedral.

Tony Burlingham, who manages a number of budget hotels operated by MJB Group, has requested permission from Norwich City Council for an extension to the Beeches Hotel, on Earlham Road, adding three hotel suites and a function room.

A design and access statement submitted to the city council as part of the application, states they have identified a need 'to improve the reception entrance to the hotel, provide additional letting accommodation in the form of suites and also a medium sized function room'.

The hotel, which is comprised of three separate buildings –Governors House, Plantation House and Beeches Hotel – located close together, is described as being 'successful' and with a 'good reputation' in the statement. But it said traffic generated through taxis and customer vehicles at one of the three buildings, Beeches Hotel, 'does lead to disruption where in some cases vehicles need to wait on Earlham Road to access the site'.

There are also concerns the hotel is losing business because of the limited space it has for a function room, which is currently located in the dining room of The Beeches Hotel.

The statement outlines how an area next to the Governors House on Earlham Road has been identified as somewhere that 'provides sufficient space to construct the additional letting rooms and function room our clients are seeking'.

The statement continues: 'The proposed building is detached from No.2 Earlham Road (Governors House) and has been carefully designed to be sensitive to the character of that building and its surroundings.'

The application will have to go before Norwich City Council's planning committee to be determined.

In April this year we reported how a hole, believed to be caused by the collapse of an old mining tunnel beneath the ground, opened up at the side of the Plantation Hotel, in Earlham Road. Fears for the structure of the hotel led to a cordon being put up around it.

In 2014 two MJB properties in Norwich hit the headlines after Mr Burlingham admitted they were being used by prostitutes, and he also admitted some of the properties had suffered issues around crime, prostitution and late-night parties.