PLANS to replace a Bournemouth car dealership with a block of 18 flats have been refused.

Dozens of people objected to the proposed redevelopment of the St Christopher’s garage site due to concerns about the level of parking proposed for would-be residents.

And planning permission has now been refused by BCP Council with criticism of the “poor layout” of the development and that it would be “overly dominant”.

The outline application was submitted last year and proposed clearing the existing buildings from the Christchurch Road site.

In their place would have been a three-storey block of 18 flats and 15 parking spaces.

A statement submitted with the application said: “there would be no harm, only benefits”.

“The site is located on a main transport corridor and is therefore in one of the locations where urban intensification to deliver housing is explicitly supported,” it added.

But the scheme attracted opposition with 45 people writing in objection to the application due to concerns about the scale of the development and the potential loss of the business.

Stuart Berenyi, who lives in Warnford Road, said the development would exacerbate problems with parking in the area.

“It is utterly unrealistic to assume that there will be less than one car per property and it is more likely there will be at least one with some having two,” he said. “Sufficient parking should be provided.”

Concerns about the development have now been echoed by council planning officer Peter Burridge who rejected the application.

“The loss of the existing employment use is regretful but in this instance is acceptable whilst provision of residential units weighs in favour of the scheme,” he said in a report.

“However, the scale and resultant poor layout of the development show that the proposal would comprise an overdevelopment of the site that would fail to respect the pattern and character of the street scene and which would be overly dominant. “

His report adds: “The proposal would also provide a poor standard of amenity for future occupiers owing to the site layout and scale shown.”