Author Polly Samson and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour to be given the green light to demolish Medina House

Brighton and Hove City Council planning officers have advised they are “minded to grant” plans to replace Medina House on Hove seafront with a 15-room house.

The celebrity couple bought the Kings Esplanade property in October 2015 for a seven-figure sum to create a home for their extended family of eight children.

The “architecturally-unusual” three storey building opened in 1894 as a laundry and women’s slipper baths but has been vacant since 1993.

It is the only surviving feature of Hove’s original seafront bath complex but despite intentions from its new owners, the building is deemed beyond repair.

The plans for a large open plan living, kitchen, dining room and hall, a study, library, snug, covered garden, gym and five bedrooms.

In response to concerns over the impact of the building, architects have modified the height by up to half a metre in places.

Objectors say the reduction is purely “cosmetic”, with the proposed 20 metre eastern wing double the size of the current boundary wall and towering seven metres higher than neighbouring homes.

The plans have attracted more than 40 objectors concerned about the height, neighbouring properties loss of light and sea views, reduction in house prices and potential damage from construction work.

There have been 23 letters of support as well as backing from the council’s Conservation Advisory Group, Hove Civic Society and Hove MP Peter Kyle although ward councillor Andrew Wealls has objected because of the “dramatic impact” on a property in Sussex Road.

Valerie Paynter of SaveHove said she had real concerns about the loss of light for residents living in Victoria Cottages.

She said: “I am hoping they have one more concession to make in their plans in lowering the height at the backyard area.

“If we don’t get this, the question is what will happen to the site, more and more dereliction and possibly another Taghan and a block of flats.”