A new hotel could be built at Southend Airport by the end of next year after council officers recommended the plans are given the green light.

The proposal is to build a 132-bedroom hotel on a staff car park at the southern end of the airport, next to the existing Holiday Inn Hotel.

It will create 25 new jobs and the council’s planning team said it should be granted planning permission when the plans are discussed on Wednesday.

Airport bosses said in planning documents that the hotel will “contribute to the ongoing development of the airport and the economic growth of Southend” and they hope to have it up and running sometime in 2021.

However, the plans were submitted at the end of 2019 when the airport was growing rapidly and the Holiday Inn, as well as the departures terminal, were operating at 90 per cent capacity.

Since then growth at the airport has stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has most notably caused Easyjet to announce the closure of its Southend base.

Councillor Kevin Robinson, who oversees tourism in Southend, said despite the problems from the pandemic, new and modern hotels are vital for the town.

He said: “Councillors on all sides have said for a long time now that we need to have more modern hotel space in Southend and with more people not going abroad but rather visiting Southend for a few days, one thing we do need is more hotel space.

“Another hotel at the airport would benefit the town as people will be able to stay there and travel in but in the long-term hopefully it will also be a big benefit to the airport which has said it is still looking at operators to use the airport.”

Conservative councillor Mark Flewitt, who represents the St Laurence ward, was less convinced.

He said: “I think councillor Robinson is mistaken if he thinks this will be popular outside of those flying and the business executives.

“We are looking at a couple of years if not longer for the airline industry to be restored to previous volumes and passenger numbers so this is an odd situation.

“We are being asked to approve an expansion of the airport with another hotel for passengers who don’t exist. It is a real dilemma.”

The Development Control Committee will make a decision on the hotel on Wednesday evening.