NEW flats are set for the Marlborough Hotel when the no rooms sign goes up for the last time.In February The Evening Star revealed one of Ipswich's best known hotels was set to turn its last sheet this summer.

NEW flats are set for the Marlborough Hotel when the no rooms sign goes up for the last time.

In February The Evening Star revealed one of Ipswich's best known hotels was set to turn its last sheet this summer.

But fears the distinctive Henley Road building was set to be flattened completely were allayed by a new plan to convert it into apartments.

And Ipswich Borough Council gave the scheme a cautious green light at a meeting of the planning committee.

The Marlborough will shut its doors to paying guests when sister hotel The Salthouse is finished in the next few months at the new Ipswich waterfront development.

Two wings and the hotel entrance are set to be levelled in the new conversion scheme, leaving the main body of the former 19th Century family home intact.

In all 11 apartments and five houses are planned for the Henley Road site.

And despite some reservations about the impact of the development on the Park Conservation Area, it was granted conditional approval.

Further fine-tuning talks between the developers and planning officials must take place before the scheme is given the final green light.

If the scheme goes ahead in the format debated by councillors, it will see 11 apartments constructed within the main body of the hotel itself.

Extensions at each side of the hotel and the rear will make more space for the new accommodation, which will also include three houses.

A further three two-storey houses are set to be built at the back of the complex, along with car parking spaces.

Planners had been worried about the removal of some mature trees at the front of the site to make more room for parking.

But now it is envisaged there will be a minimal impact on the tree line outside the hotel.