OXFORD Spires Four Pillars hotel revealed plans for 48 new bedrooms and a conservatory at a public exhibition yesterday.

The Abingdon Road hotel, which currently has 181 rooms, wants to build an 18-room block at the back and a 30-room block at the front nearest the road.

The company also wants to build a new conservatory, a new entrance awning and revamp its existing restaurant as part of the multi-million pound scheme.

The plans, the biggest since the hotel was built in 1999, come as a £5.5m, 83-bedroom Travelodge –due to open next year – goes up at the bottom of Abingdon Road, But Oxford Spires spokesman David McFarlane said his firm’s plans were not in response to the budget chain’s arrival.

He said: “I would have thought that is a different market – we are a four-star hotel, walking distance from the city centre with lovely, landscaped gardens. I think the Travelodge is going to be a very different brand.”

Mr McFarlane said that demand for all sorts of hotel accommodation in Oxford was growing as tourism became more popular and affordable.

He said: “If you ask anyone from Oxford City Council they will tell you there is a huge shortage of accommodation in Oxford. I would imagine that Travelodge will be full when it is built and when our new rooms are built they will be full as well.”

The new 18-room block will actually be built on top of some of the hotel’s existing 150 car park spaces, reducing the number to about 122.

But Mr McFarlane said the car park was so rarely full at the moment the hotel does not even control who uses it.

However, as part of the new expansion plans, the hotel is planning to install a barrier so only guests will be able to park. South Oxford residents Alison and Mark Beek, who went to the exhibition yesterday afternoon, said they were not bothered about the new blocks’ appearance so much as what flood risk they might pose.

Living on Lake Street, the couple had water lapping at their front door during the 2014 winter floods.

Mr Beek said: “We would view with concern any building on this site because of the flood risk, because it puts more strain on the drainage.

“What is a concern is the impact on flooding.”

The company said it plans to undertake full assessments of the flood risk before submitting a planning application to the city council this year.

That application could go to the planning committee as early as spring 2016, and the building will take about a year.

Anyone who wants to comment on the plans should write to SP Broadway, 50 Broadway, London, SW1H 0RG or email david@spbroadway.com by November 20.