Wellingborough flats plan turned down by councillors

A plan to knock down a single-storey former office building and replace it with a block of flats has been rejected by council planning bosses.

Developers wanted to demolish Peerless House, in Talbot Road, Wellingborough, to make way for a four-storey building containing 38 one-bedroom flats.

But North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) said the development would have been ‘harmful’ to and ‘incongruous’ with the neighbourhood, which is a short walk from the town’s Grade II listed train station.

Plans submitted to NNC said the design had been put together to ‘carefully consider’ the area’s character and that the proposed building would have resembled a converted factory.

However, the council said it would have resulted in an ‘unacceptable loss of light’ and caused overshadowing to nearby buildings.

It said the potential replacement for the 1960s office building, which has been used as a boxing gym since the start of 2022, would have resulted in ‘overdevelopment’.