The team behind emerging plans for an 80-bedroom hotel and cycle centre near Buriton are keen to clear up the mystique surrounding the project.

Early plans for the development north west of the B2070 Greenway Lane roundabout were showcased to the public last Thursday afternoon.

Images produced by architects and masterplanners JTP for the Greenway Park scheme envisage a barn-like structure for the hotel with a separate cycling facility.

Parts of the surrounding patch will be re-wilded with the “sensitively designed” buildings design to sit naturally within the landscape.

The public exhibition in St Peter’s Hall was purely held to generate feedback ahead of a likely planning application in the summer.

Many Buriton residents were unaware of the Amberleigh Projects scheme until last week but more than 2,000 leaflets were distributed around the Petersfield area ahead of the exhibition.

Plans to develop the site for hotel and cycling usage have been in the pipeline since the end of the noughties but progress halted because of the pandemic.

“There is an identifiable need for more holiday accommodation in the South Downs National Park and it’s something the SDNPA have said we need,” said spokesman Ally Kennedy.

“There are two elements to this: one is the 80-bedroom hotel with a sensitive design that sits naturally within the landscape and will also include a café and will act as a meeting point.

“The second element is the cycling centre which will include the traditional bike hire. We feel there’s a good opportunity to promote recreation provision given its on a well-used cycle way.”

Several hotel firms have expressed an interest in the development, which has nothing to do with the Recharge One scheme across the road which has gone to appeal.

The exhibition was held in Petersfield and Mr Kennedy added: “We’ve had people coming in who have got concerns, naturally, but we’ve also had a lot of people agreeing with the need for more visitor accommodation and like the cycling element, too.”

Site owner John Bell said: “We want to design something that fits in – what we don’t want to see is a someone putting up a rendered white block.”

For more information about the scheme and to comment visit https://greenwaypark.yoursaydigital.co.uk/ or email [email protected]