A PREMIER Inn and restaurant plan for Banbury must be thrown out, councillors will be told on Thursday.

A Cherwell District Council planning officer’s report says the out-of-town Southam Road scheme will drive shoppers away from the centre.

More than 60 businesses and residents have opposed the plan, for spare land at the Kraft General Foods site, with fears over traffic, parking and impact on other firms.

Developer Whitbread said the move, to include a Beefeater restaurant, would create 70 jobs.

Council planning officer Caroline Roche said: “The development will discourage visits to the town centre and as a result damage the vitality and viability of the town centre.”

Paul and Anna Galvin, directors of the Banbury House Hotel in Oxford Road, told councillors in a letter: “If this is approved it will seriously affect the financial viability of our business and other operators in the town.”

Banbury Town Council objected over extra traffic on Southam Road.

Stephen Brooker, director of Walsingham Planning, which represents the owners, said refusing the plan “would be a very significant loss to the town, particularly at a time when there are very few investors willing and able to undertake new development and create new jobs”.