AN attempt to save a 1920s warehouse has been dealt a serious blow.

Developer European Emerging Markets Ltd sought permitted development rights to demolish the 'heritage' building at 3 Wickham Road, Bournemouth - allowing it to go ahead without planning permission.

Despite objections from Pokesdown residents and the town's Civic Society, the borough's planning officers have ruled that the demolition can go ahead.

The building is listed as a heritage asset in the Boscombe and Pokesdown Neighbourhood Plan, although it is not otherwise formally listed or protected.

Members of Pokesdown Community Forum and the civic society sought to get the council to issue a block to the demolition.

In an ironic twist, the developer has also had a simultaneous planning application to convert the building into nine flats rejected due to the loss of employment space.

It had said the conversion scheme would be "retaining the non-designated heritage asset and enhancing the appearance of the area".

However, officers refused the scheme using delegated powers, citing "loss of an unallocated employment site", "inappropriate design" and "unacceptable living conditions for the intended occupiers".

Back in June a previous bid to demolish the block, by the same applicant, was rejected by the town's planning board, despite that scheme having the backing of council officers.

They had said the site was unlikely to prove attractive to businesses as it sits within a residential road, however councillors disagreed, and the block of flats proposed was described as an "outrage" to architecture by the civic society.

The community forum has conducted a survey among residents which it says showed they were "massively in favour of retaining the building with the lower floor being used for new tech studios and workshops with two and three bedroomed, good size, family apartments above".

The building was formerly the home of Dorset Nursing Supplies Ltd and is in an area of houses largely dating from the late 19th century during the rapid expansion of Boscombe and Pokesdown.