RESIDENTS have welcomed plans to build a new art-deco style hotel, apartments and restaurant in place of the run-down Cliff Hotel.

An exhibition of drawings and plans for the new building were on show at The Waterfront on Monday night with the owner, architect and construction consultant on hand to answer questions.

The proposed scheme would see the 130-year-old Cliff Hotel knocked down and replaced with a six-storey building, complete with a 60-bed hotel.

Resident Angela Rankin, said: “It looks interesting.

“A lot of people don’t want to see the Cliff go.

“When you sail into Harwich, you can see the Cliff standing out.

“But it’s got so bad - it would be great to replace it.”

Ken Potticary, who lives next to the Cliff Hotel, said: “Obviously the Cliff Hotel is iconic, but I think everyone will recognise it’s past it’s sell by date.

“We have the Electric Palace, that’s an example of how you maintain an historic building.

“That didn’t happen to the Cliff hotel.

“Anything that replaces it, as long as it is sympathetic to what is there, no-one will be too concerned.”

But Mr Potticary raised concerns about the quality of the hotel.

“It looks like a budget hotel - high-class apartments and a low-budget hotel,” he added.

Other concerns were raised about whether the town needs 60 hotel rooms.

But resident Steve Warner said: “I love it.

“A 60-bed hotel gives something to the town.

“The town is desperate for more hotel space - we have lost 27 hotel rooms from the Cliff and at least 14 at the Continental Hotel.”

Claire Upson said: “It’s nice to have that bar area - we have three sides of sea, but how many places are there to sit and look out to sea.”

The new hotel would have apartments at the front looking out to sea, and the hotel rooms at the back in a self-contained section of the building.

The height of the building would be staggered at the back to limit the visual impact - there would also be car parking on two levels and a restaurant and bar.

Essex County councillor Andrew Erskine, said: “Hopefully this will be an iconic building of our future, it replaces an iconic building of our past.”