SCALED-DOWN plans for a controversial development in west Wirral are “not the iconic building hoped for”.

Earlier this month, the developers behind the project, Carpenter Investments, revealed their new scaled-down plans for The Sail project – a hotel and new sailing school on West Kirby’s marine lake.

The flagship project to build the boutique hotel was first revealed last year, but proved controversial with some residents.

Carpenter Investments pledged to reduce the size of the development following consultation with local residents.

The scheme was originally set to cost £10m and included an 80-bed boutique hotel, set to be a Wirral version of Liverpool’s exclusive Hope Street Hotel. The project will now cost £7.5m, with the hotel scaled back to 45 rooms.

It will also include a Hilbre Island visitor centre and small retail units, and may include a small cinema. The new sailing school, which will sit on the footprint of the existing building, will have a cafe above with views out to the island.

But cabinet member Gill Gardiner said she was disappointed in the revised design of the hotel, which has been reduced to 40 beds, and minutes of the cabinet meeting reveal she told other cabinet members it was “not the iconic building she had hoped for”.

Cllr Gardiner also said she had serious concerns about the number of parking spaces, in an area where parking was often at a premium.

Cllr Gardiner said: “The design had changed a lot from the previous scheme, and was not as we had originally looked at. But our other concern was the parking. We expressed our reservations, but it will be up to the developers what they do.”