COUNCILLORS will tonight decide on plans for a Travelodge hotel in Oxford which planning officers say would “over-dominate” one of the main entrances to the city.

Oxford City Council’s planning department is recommending councillors to refuse permission for the 83-bedroom hotel in Abingdon Road. The proposals will be considered by the council’s west area planning committee.

In a report to councillors, officers said the plans for the former Motorworld garage site would “constitute an overlarge and over-dominant feature at a prominent location at the southern edge of the city, close to open land and the Oxford Green Belt” and added that the 45 car parking spaces planned would be inadequate for the number of guests the hotel is expected to cater for.

During consultation, 22 city centre shops, restaurants and bars wrote to support the plan.

The committee meeting, at the Town Hall, in St Aldate’s, begins at 6pm.