NEWPORT'S Celtic Manor Resort hopes to build 235 extra bedrooms before playing host to the Ryder Cup in 2010.

The hotel expects a significant rise in tourism both leading up to and following the golf tournament. But the expansion is also needed to cater for the hundreds of delegates attending large conferences at the resort, families and small groups.

Plans for the first phase of the expansion - 61 hotel suites, providing a total of 126 bedrooms - go before Newport's planning committee today.

However, a decision is not expected until after a site visit. If the plans are given the go-ahead work is expected to start next spring. The suites, varying in size from one bedroom to four bedroom penthouse, would be housed in a large detached building, 110m west of the main hotel complex.

The longer-term plans are to provide a further 235 bedrooms in two additional blocks. The building for the 61 suites would be split into blocks set at angles around a spire feature. There would be parking for 58 cars.

Discussions continue over the design and finishes. The proposed site, surrounded on all sides by the golf course, is used for overspill car parking.

A spokesman for the Celtic Manor, which is owned by billionaire businessman Sir Terry Matthews, (pictured) said the primary reason for the expansion was the resort's success in attracting big conferences and corporate events.

Present conference facilities hold enough delegates to occupy 800 bedrooms, but there there are only 400 bedrooms.

As the resort develops, the Celtic Manor hopes to provide somewhere for families and small groups to take leisure breaks in self- contained accommodation. When the original hotel opened in 1982 there were just 17 bedrooms. This increased to 73 in 1988 and the £1 million expansion in 1999 took the number of bedrooms up to 400.

The resort was given permission to extend its Wentwood Hills golf course in June last year, and the announcement that the Ryder Cup would be coming to the Celtic Manor came three months later.

Any expansion is expected to be completed by the time the tournament arrives in Newport.