NEW designs for a long-vacant former hotel site could be given planning consent this summer.

Plans for the eight-storey tower where the Sackville Hotel used to stand on Hove seafront have been submitted.

The Hyde Group said original plans for the site, dubbed the Sackville Sausage, have been “significantly revised” following feedback from residents and community groups.

If successful, construction could begin in 2018 and would take two years to complete.

The new plans for 60 homes with basement parking are a considerable drop in height from the originally proposed 17-storey tower.

A spokesman said the Hyde Group was “absolutely committed” to providing onsite affordable housing though the final amount would be subject to agreement following a review from the district valuer.

The developer said neighbours had a “hands-on role” in deciding the building’s shape and design using state of the art 3D modelling software.

The new design is described as “seamlessly flowing around the corner from Kingsway into Sackville Gardens” creating a feature corner to a “classic Art Deco styled apartment block”.

It is more curved than refined designs revealed in January which the Regency Society described as even worse than the scrapped 17-storey proposal.

But it still has not impressed this newspaper’s hard-to-please commentators online who described the latest design as a step back to the 1970s and OK for “Basingstoke city centre”.

The original plans were drawn up by Brighton-based architects Yelo Architects.

They have been replaced by HGP, who have worked with Hyde for more than ten years and most recently on the Ropetackle development in Shoreham.

The firm is also responsible for high-profile projects such as the Spinnaker Tower and the £6.5 million Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing headquarters, both in Portsmouth.

Tom Shaw, Hyde’s development director (South), said: “HGP have taken the time to really understand the brief, to meet with residents and stakeholders and collaborate to produce a design for a scheme that will deliver a landmark building for Hove seafront while respecting its neighbours and raising the bar in terms of quality of design.”