PLANS have been submitted to convert an ‘isolated’ fish and chip shop in Bournemouth into a new home.

Ensbury Park Fish & Chips already has residential accommodation above, but developer Harmony Homes wants to turn the building into a detached home.

The fish and chip shop is situated near a busy junction, which forms part of the Redhill one-way system, and the only neighbouring business unit contained a tanning salon, now closed.

Tom Whild, associate planning consultant for Ken Parke Planning, wrote in a statement supporting Harmony Homes’ planning application that the fish and chip shop was on a site “detached from the more significant local shops clustered around the junction of Columbia Road and Boundary Road.

“While the shop unit has been in a commercial use, it does not make any strong contribution towards local vitality and one of a pair of isolated shopfronts on a busy road junction which limits opportunities for passing trade,” he said.

“The proposal would allow the conversion of an awkward residential space above a shop into an attractive family dwellinghouse.”

Converting the shop into a home would also reduce the number of vehicle movements from the site, he said, and “would therefore reduce traffic pressure at what is a significant and busy traffic system.”

Under the plans, which will be considered by BCP Council planning officers, the fish and chip shop itself would become a bedroom with ensuite bathroom. The shop kitchen would be converted into a domestic kitchen for the home.