An unpopular planning application to build villas on the Fairmont Southampton Golf Course has been delayed, for the second time.

The Fairmont Southampton, which wants two Special Development Orders (SDO), was granted a second ?enlargement of time? at the Department of Planning?s Applications Board Meeting earlier this month.

The same board granted the same request back in September last year.

In that delay developers were supposed to be ready with their plans at the end of December, but instead they only requested more time.

Now the board has extended the application window to March 30, 2007.

Construction on the 18-hole golf course has been met with a wave of public displeasure ? 600 people signed a petition and there were 25 letters of objection.

Most people believed the golf course should be untouched because it is open space.

The initial plan also included 145 new vacation homes on Turtle Hill which is on the resort?s sprawling Southampton campus, not far from the golf course.

A spokeswoman for the hotel said: ?Additional time is required to fine tune design elements.?

She further indicated they were trying to include the input of various parties into their proposal, including the public and environmentalists.

Typically developers request special development orders to expedite the planning process and move forward with construction.

In this case the SDO requests appear nullified by repeated requests for extensions during the application process.