A landmark hotel in Apperley Bridge is closing to make way for more luxury flats.

The owner of Apperley Manor Hotel wants planners to give him the go-ahead to turn the former Victorian mansion in Apperley Lane into 14 flats.

Businessman Tom Lindley said the hotel he bought two years ago would officially shut at the end of this month.

He said the hotel had failed to make money because it did not have enough bedrooms.

The struggle to survive had been made more desperate because of hard-to-beat competition from bigger hotels which had sprung up in the area close to Leeds-Bradford Airport, he said.

Letters have now been sent out to disappointed couples who had booked the hotel for wedding receptions and Mr Lindley said he felt sure they would get their deposits refunded.

"The problem was that while we could entertain and feed 120 wedding guests, we couldn't give them a bed.

"We just didn't have enough bedrooms to run as a hotel, we couldn't compete with other bigger hotels. We'd hoped Christmas trade might have turned the business round and kept it going for longer but it didn't.

"The only option now is to close - whether or not we get permission for the flats," he added.

Mr Lindley said he had not decided whether to develop the flats himself or to sell the building on to developers.

"I'm not making any decisions yet. I'll wait and see what happens with the planning department," he said.

Planners are hoping to make a decision by April 1. To date there have been no objections to the scheme which would also see two three-storey wings built on to the back of the building, which is in a conservation area on green-belt land.

Mr Lindley said he believed the decision would be in his favour after 18 months of talks with the planning department to find a satisfactory scheme.

He said the new extensions would replace existing "unsympathetic" additions and make the building look more in-keeping, taking it back to its original-look as a house.

He said: "At the end of 2003 we put in a plan for 22 flats which was refused because it was too big. We took those plans back to the drawing board and have worked hard on them, reducing numbers to 14. Hopefully the changes mean we will be able to reach an outcome that will make everyone happy."

Apperley Manor was turned into a hotel 13 years ago after it had been used as offices. Before that it was a private home.

In summer, multi-million-pound plans to convert a historic mill into 85 luxury apartments near to the hotel were also given the go-ahead.

Developer Landmark Development Projects had £10 million to spend on restoring and renovating Oaklea Mills.

The apartments there are selling from £85,000 to £180,000.