A CITY hotel should not be allowed to start a controversial revamp, a city council heritage officer has said.

They said the work on the Linton Lodge Hotel, in Linton Road, North Oxford would cause a high level of 'less than substantial harm' the North Oxford Suburb Conservation Area.

Some North Oxford residents are furious about the plan to extend the hotel to build 33 new bedrooms. It would leave the hotel with a total of 120 bedrooms.

The hotel trades as a Best Western but is owned by Ke Hotels. The company wants to create a '“boutique” hotel'.