HOTEL bosses have revealed plans for a caravan site and camping pods - eight years after controversial plans for a bigger tourist development were passed.

Ian and Caroline Hughes, who run the Melbreak Hotel, near Great Clifton, want to provide new tourist accommodation in a field behind the hotel.

Mr Hughes has submitted plans to Allerdale council for 14 pitches, 20 camping pods, toilet, shower and dish washing areas and 34 parking spaces.

The scheme is similar to a previous development which was approved for the site eight years ago.

Allerdale council previously granted planning permission for a holiday park, leisure club, restaurant, 60 log cabins and 42 extra bedrooms to be built. This was met with opposition from people in nearby Bridgefoot who felt the addition of hard surfaces would increase the risk of flooding from Lostrigg Beck.

The works never went ahead and the planning permission expired.

Mr Hughes, who is also director of Melbreak Enterprises, which owns the hotel, said: "We put in plans to do lodges, but the holiday vacation business has gone away from lodges and gone more towards the pod side of things.

"The credit crunch also played a part. Now is the right time to go forward.

"The hotel is going from strength to strength and we're seeing a lot more staycation visitors.

"It's just through demand. We've got the space and we've got an area around the hotel that we own and we're just trying to capitalise on staycation visitors.

"We've had a lot of people asking if we do the glamping pods and pitches for touring homes."

The development will cost about £1.5m if planning permission is granted.

The new site would also bring in 12 jobs with a mixture of full-time and part-time positions.

The consultation on the plans ends on Thursday, October 13.