Campaigners are angry that controversial plans to convert a court building into a hotel chain are expected to go ahead.

Members of the South Downs National Park Authority planning committee are being advised by officers to grant permission to develop Lewes Magistrates’ Court and end two years of debate over the site’s future.

Developers Quora and Killarney Commercio International want to demolish the courthouse, which was opened by Princess Diana in 1988, to build a 59-bedroom Premier Inn hotel with flexible retail and leisure units on the ground floor.

If members of the committee give the plans the go ahead tomorrow, the developers will need to pay £56,500 towards transport and public space improvements.

A failure to agree these payments by February could see the planning permission refused.

Initial designs for the hotel makeover were rejected last December as they were deemed not to be in keeping with the architecture of the town.

A decision on revised designs was deferred by the council in October, with the developers going back to the drawing board.

The latest design features traditional timber shop fronts instead of modern glazed proposals and a “feature entrance” to the hotel into the High Street twitten.

The courts, pictured right, closed to the public in 2011 and cost taxpayers about £10,000 a month in security and maintenance costs.

A rival bid by Lewes Repertory Theatre for a centre of excellence for film, TV and theatre production has also been submitted for the site.

The planning authority said that application is currently being delayed while it awaits a response to concerns about highway safety and environmental health.

Vic Ient, of Lewes Repertory Theatre (LRT) Supporter Group, disputed that claim.

He said reports had been submitted in time and the group had hoped that their application would also be heard this week.

He added: “Clearly, the local population overwhelmingly want this building for community use so where is the local democracy if officers and developers are telling us what we should have?

“I think that if it is approved on Thursday, the Ministry of Justice will have the ink ready to sign contracts and get rid of the building and that will probably be the end for LRT, which is very sad.”

Angela Wigglesworth, from the Keep Lewes Lewes Campaign Group, said that another bid had been put to the Ministry of Justice from a local businessman to convert the site into flats for first-time buyers, community arts studios and shops, without demolishing the building.

She said: “This would better fulfil the needs of the town, be better value for the taxpayer and cause less disruption.

“Many local people fought for Lewes to be included in the South Downs National Park to protect it from this kind of vandalism, not to have it inflicted upon them.”