A PROPOSAL has been lodged to build flats in place of two homeless hostels in Highcliffe.
BCP Council’s Housing Services has submitted a planning application to demolish the existing buildings at 260-262 Lymington Road to build a block of 11 flats.
An individual providing crime prevention advice for the two buildings said the development “cannot happen quickly enough”.
The site is currently occupied by two detached properties which are two-stories in height and date from the early Victorian period.
They are owned by BCP Council, and provide emergency hostel accommodation for people before they can move into more permanent accommodation.
Number 260 has three bedrooms plus an office, while number 262 has four bedrooms, and both houses have a communal kitchen, dining and bathroom facilities.
The layout of the single development proposed to go in their place provides a mix of one, two and three bedroom residential flats to be used “exclusively for affordable housing”.
A design and access statement submitted as part of the planning application said: “Each residential unit is designed to be at least dual aspect.
“These new dwellings exceed the national minimum space standards.
“Thus, this new development will be providing high-quality accommodation for households in affordable housing need.”
Car parking is not required as part of the scheme, and access is set to be from Lymington Road, achieved through utilising the existing dropped kerb of number 262.
The design proposals during the pre-application stage were for the ‘demolition of the existing buildings and the construction of seventeen flats within the affordable rent tenure.’
These plans received “strong concerns”, and so BCP Council’s housing services reduced the extent, height, mass scale and bulk of the building as a result.
A representation made to scheme said: “Having been involved in providing crime prevention advice for the existing buildings, my opinion is that this development cannot happen quickly enough.
“I make no objection to this site.”
A decision is yet to be made on the planning application.
While BCP Council’s Housing Services has been planning the changes for 260-262 Lymington Road since August last year, the application was accidently handed to Dorset Council, and has only just reached BCP Council’s planning team.
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