WESTON S new Tropicana plans have undergone a huge redesign after developers bowed to public calls for it to be lowered.

WESTON'S new Tropicana plans have undergone a huge redesign after developers bowed to public calls for it to be lowered.

The £30million seafront leisure complex will now be four storeys in height rather than six - 10 meters lower then the previously published scheme.

The Weston & Somerset Mercury can also reveal that AMF's Dolphin Bowl will move from its present location in Dolphin Square to the new building and that Whitbread has been confirmed as the hotel operator.

The beach car park has also been removed from the scheme, making the overall footprint smaller. In total, there will be 470 car spaces, with 294 situated in a lower ground car park.

The original plans were seen by more than 1,000 residents at a series of public consultations in the resort last year, many of who said the building's height was their main objection.

A Henry Boot spokesman said: "We are absolutely committed to responding to views expressed during the consultation where we could and we have made substantial changes to the scheme which reflect the key issues raised."

Senior councillors will vote to approve the amendments at a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday.

A formal planning application is still expected to be submitted to the council on February 20.

Once it has been received, the final details of the scheme will be published in a newsletter to be sent to Weston residents and appear on the project's website, at www.lifestationattropicana.info.

The leisure complex, to be called Lifestation@Tropicana, will include a 96-bed hotel with a bar and restaurant, 20-lane bowling alley, eight-screen cinema and a four-storey waterpark.

Splashdown, a company which runs a leisure complex in Poole, will operate the complex's aquatic features.

A cinema operator is yet to be found and there are as yet no details for seven retail outlets and 10 restaurants also included in the plans.

During the last three months, the developers have sought the views of the town's Chamber of Trade, the Hotels and Restaurants Association, Weston College, the Town Centre Partnership and the South West Design Review Panel.

The authority's executive member for strategic planning and economic development, Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, said: "I am very pleased that Henry Boot has listened to residents. I am hopeful that following the long wait we have had, the redevelopment will soon become reality.