A WESTCLIFF hotel is set to expand in a £1.9million project, despite traffic concerns, as holidaymakers flock to stay longer in Southend.

Premier Inn was given the green light on Wednesday (jan 13) to expand its Thanet Grange venue, next to the Strawberry Fields pub, which will create 26 extra rooms.

Lib Dem Alan Crystall, who is chairman of the development control committee which gave the project approval, said: “It wasn’t long ago that we were told there’s no hotel demand in Southend, yet here we are expanding again.”

The venue, which serves Southend Airport, has seen its vacancy rates soar to 85 per cent on weekdays, with Saturdays seeing 94 per cent of rooms booked out, from 2012 to 2015 as people clamour to stay longer in the area, which is traditionally seen as a daytrippers paradise.

But councillors on the committee voiced concerns about extra traffic from the expanded hotel, but planning officials pointed at multi-million pound revamps to the A127 Tesco junction and nearby Nestuda Way.