PLANNERS have rejected an application to build a 100-bed hotel at Biggin Hill airport for the second time in a year.

The application from Biggin Hill Airport Ltd outlines plans to build the hotel on a 1,520sq m site on the south west corner of the airfield.

A restaurant, associated access road, service area and a 100-space car park formed part of the plans.

But planning chiefs at Bromley Council rejected the application on the grounds of size, design and location.

The decision comes despite developers scaling down the proposals in an application turned down in April last year.

Under the new plans, it was proposed to set-back the V-shaped hotel 39m from Main Road, compared with 13m away from it in the previous application.

A car park for 100 vehicles, instead of 190, was proposed.

But planning sub-committee chairman Councillor Peter Bloomfield said the changes in the revised proposal were merely cosmetic and did not go far enough to address previous concerns.

Speaking at the meeting on March 1, he said: "It is a landmark site and will be there for a long time.

"I would not wish to drive pastthat and say I was a part of it."

The proposals were met with further opposition, with over 100 protesters at the meeting.

Ray Watson, a spokesman from campaign group Flightpath, which was set up to fight expansion at Biggin Hill airport, said: "It's about time the airport stopped causing so much uncertainty among residents."

Following last year's rejected application, Biggin Hill Airport Ltd appealed against the decision to the planning inspectorate, which will make a final decision on the original plan later this year.

Business development manager for the airport, Robert Walters, said the company also intends to appeal against the recent decision.

He said aircrews, visitors and passengers would benefit from a nearby hotel, instead of having to travel further afield to Croydon.

Earlier this year, the company submitted a renewal application for planning permission to build a 50-bed hotel on the site.

The scheme was approved in 2001, but permission has since expired.