WORK to build a £5million hotel on the outskirts of Abergavenny is due to start later this year.

The 61-bed Premier Inn will be built on land known as Westgate off Merthyr Road in Llanfoist.

Work to build a new access road on a site earmarked for commercial and housing development is underway and the housing developer Persimmon is now on-site.

A spokesman for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants said work is anticipated to start this winter and the hotel is expected to open in the autumn of 2016.

The applicant Johnsey Estates UK Ltd was granted planning permission by Monmouthshire council to build 44 new homes on part of the site in 2013.

A bid to open a Costa Coffee in the same application has yet to be decided and a Brewer’s Fayre has been approved.

Richard Pearson, acquisitions manager for Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants, said the 61-bed hotel represents a significant £5million investment in the town and will create 50 new jobs locally.

He said: “From our previous experience, new Premier Inn’s typically attract additional visitors to the towns in which they are based, boosting the local economy as visitors use local shops and services.”

Peter Lawson, a director of Cardiff based planning consultants Turley Associates, said: “The design of the new buildings was a particular challenge on this gateway site, with bespoke high quality buildings appropriate to the area having been approved.”

The developer is committed to using local materials such as stone for the development and has kept the level of the roof to two storeys in keeping with the bungalow there.

In a separate application, McDonald’s is proposing to open a restaurant on another part of the site, creating 65 jobs. The application has yet to be considered by Monmouthshire council’s planning officers.