Planned demolition of former Hindu temple in Wellingborough hopes to 'create high quality accommodation' with new flats proposed

The building on the corner of Strode Road and Mill Road is owned by the local Hindu fellowship, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, and was the original Mandir when the organisation came to the town.

Should the proposal be approved by North Northants Council (NNC), the current building would be demolished, making way for seven, one and two-bedroom flats, including an area for bins and bike storage to ‘meet demand for smaller, central accommodation in Wellingborough.’

One of the planning document states: “This project provides an exciting opportunity to redevelop this site and create high quality accommodation, that improves the street scene from its current state.

"It will not only directly help meet demand for smaller dwellings in Wellingborough, but will also make an overall improvement on the appearance and character of the area.

"The building is currently in a state of disrepair and has been heavily vandalised, and has a negative impact on the street scene, making the site a suitable location for redevelopment to improve the appearance of the area.”

If approved, the new building would be of a height and size that would ‘reflect the scale of surrounding buildings’, and would be constructed predominantly of red brick and a standing seam roof to help it blend in with other buildings in the area.

Plans admit that parking is ‘a major constraint for the site’ as many roads surrounding the site are marked with double yellow lines - much of Strode Road itself has parked cars on both sides of the street. Because of this the proposal hopes to deploy a ‘zero-car scheme, to ‘encourage use of public transport and take advantage of the walk-ability of the area.’

Cycle storage on the ground floor is included in the proposal, which would be accessed via the shared alleyway.

The full application can be found here, or by searching NW/25/00151/FUL on the NNC planning portal.