A DEVELOPER has seen plans to demolish a house and build a block of 37 flats in Poole rejected almost three years after they were submitted.

Sphere Property 8 Limited tabled the outline application for the site at 22 Balcombe Road, which is also known as 2 Burton Road.

The scheme included levelling the existing residential building on the site and erecting a flatted development of 27 two-bed and 10 three-bed flats.

Both Canford Cliffs ward councillors were opposed to the proposal, along with 46 objections from residents.

Cllr May Haynes and Cllr Mohan Iyengar said the scheme would be contrary to the Branksome Park conservation area management plan in relation to the buik and massing of the block of flats.

A report by planning officer Jedd Goodwin-Roberts said: “Whilst the redevelopment of the site offers the ability for a more residential intensive use of the site and providing an uplift of 35 dwellings which would be a positive contribution to the BCP housing stock.

“However, housing delivery should not be a game of planning by numbers. In this instance, the proposed development is considered inappropriate and there are number of issues raised in this report.”

The report said the main obstacle the development faced was the site’s location I the conservation area and the existing building making a positive conservation area.

“Its replacement with a flatted block would fail to preserve or enhance the setting of the conservation area and as such it fails the basic principles of the Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990,” the report added.

“The proposed development fails to provide adequate onsite amenities including a convenient refuse store and insufficient parking.”

Bournemouth Echo: The existing building on the siteThe existing building on the site

The council’s car parking policies state that the scheme should have 47 car parking spaces.

The proposed development only provided 34 car parking spaces and no justification had been included from the applicant on why the deficit of 13 car parking spaces was appropriate.

Planning officers rejected the application, which was submitted in October 2019 and amended in early 2020, under delegated powers.