The Fairmont Southampton Hotel is seeking special permission from Government to allow a slightly higher than normal concentration of apartments for hotel staff to be built nearby.

Plans for new staff housing at ?Faraway? in Warwick have been submitted by the hotel group and it will see the number of hotel staff dwellings at the site increase from the current total of 72 to 97, some five apartments over the normal regulation limit for an area of 4.64 acres.

But the hotel group?s Planning application points out that the staff housing units are much smaller than normal residential apartments on the Island, and that it is normal for the employees to get to and from work by bike rather than by car, therefore doing away with the need for a large amount of car parking space.

The Faraway development is on Dunscombe Road and provides a total of 83 bedrooms at present through a combination of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units.

In the new plan it is proposed to demolish four of the units and replace them with two buildings that will create an additional 25 one-bedroom apartments.

There will also be a new communal laundry block and a waste-water treatment plant that will deal with the sewage treatment for the extra apartments.

In its submission to the Planning department Fairmont Hotels notes: ?Hotel staff accommodation is quite different from traditional apartment housing.

?In addition to the much smaller size of the units ? less than 600 square feet compared to the average of 1,500 to 1,800 square feet ? it needs less parking.

?In order to develop plans that will provide the appropriate number of hotel staff housing units in the submitted proposals, it will be necessary to exceed the maximum permitted number of regular dwelling units.?

Fairmont is therefore seeking a Special Development Order from the Ministry of the Environment to allow it the extra five apartments above the maximum number.

To make space for the new apartments two existing buildings that house four apartments and a laundry will be demolished and replaced by two three-storey buildings containing 29 one-bedroom apartments ? replacing the four that were demolished and providing an additional 25 ? for staff.

A new communal laundry building will be created nearby.

According to the planning application the new apartments should provide housing for an extra 58 hotel staff.