A VOTE will be held tonight to decide on whether to allow a controversial 14-storey tower block hotel to be built in the heart of Walthamstow.

Solum Regeneration want to transform the Priory Avenue side of Walthamstow Central Station with the development, which would also include a residential unit eight storeys high.

But some residents groups say the planned buildings are ugly and out of keeping with the neighbourhood.

There are also concerns over a lack of privacy for those living in the shadows of the development.

Councillors will meet at Waltham Forest Town Hall tonight at 7.30pm to hear representations from both sides before reaching a verdict.

Council officers have recommended that the planning application be approved with conditions.

Protesters plan to hold an "angry, noisy and visually striking demonstration" outside the town hall before the meeting.

It comes after campaigners held a mass pillow fight at the proposed site of the development at the weekend.

Meanwhile the council has confirmed it made an "administrative error" over the publicised consultation period for another high rise development in Walthamstow.

As the Guardian reported last week, private company PHCC East London Ltd has applied to build two mixed use blocks up to eight storeys tall in St James Street, Walthamstow.

The council originally said the consultation period for the application, which was registered by the authority on Wednesday December 29, expired on January 10.

This has now been extended until January 31.

The result of the meeting will be published on guardian-series.co.uk later tonight.