A historic but disused hotel will be brought back into use as housing for up to 45 families, couples or individuals.

The Lansdowne Place Hotel’s 150 year stay as a hotel in Hove is set to end after Brighton and Hove City Council’s planning committee voted unanimously to approve plans for one and two bedroom flats on the site.

The hotel closed in December 2012 leaving 20 full-time staff out of work and administrators KPMG say it is no longer viable to maintain the building as a working hotel.

Planning committee members said they were pleased that a disused building would be brought back into use but several, including planning chairman Phelim MacCafferty and fellow Green councillor Ian Davey, expressed disappointment at the loss of a much-loved hotel in Hove.

Several councillors also spoke out against proposals that would see a storey of penthouse flats added to the building.