FRESH plans have been unveiled to build a luxury hotel and 50 executive homes on a North-East golf course.

Proposals for Woodham Golf and Country Club, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, will go on display tomorrow during a public consultation.

Subject to the consultation and planning approval, the £17.5m scheme would create a four-star 75-bedroom hotel, conference centre and spa.

There would also be extensive landscaping, including public footpaths, improvements to the 18-hole golf course and the re-establishment of Woodham bridleway.

Washington Developments said the project will create 300 construction jobs and a further 90 permanent jobs in the hotel, as well as safeguarding 30 jobs at the golf course. It is estimated the finished project will contribute £736,000 a year to the local economy and work could start next autumn.

Jamie Murphy, group director of the Irish firm, said: “Woodham is an excellent golf course in a superb location but would benefit from investment both to the clubhouse and the grounds.

“Our proposal seeks to create a top-class leisure facility which will be a part of the local community.

“There is no reason why an improved course here shouldn’t attract high-profile tournaments in the future without losing its community base.

“The new housing and hotel complex will not only secure the course’s future viability but also generate additional income for the local economy.”

The proposals have been scaled down from the firm’s 2007 proposals to build 148 homes and a 120-bedroom hotel on the site.

Original course architect Hamilton Stutt said, in 2008, that building homes in the middle of the course would destroy its feel. He died that October aged 83.

The application was withdrawn following council concerns over the scale of the development.

Mr Murphy said: “We have taken on board everything the council officers told us and have spent the intervening period working closely with our planners and architects to come up with a scheme that, hopefully, answers those initial concerns to produce a superb development.”

The exhibition is in the clubhouse tomorrow, from 2pm to 8pm, and on Saturday, from 10am to 1pm.