Plans to add another floor to apartment complex in Aylesbury town centre rejected

Planners have refused permission for seven new flats in a Buckinghamshire town centre.

Buckinghamshire Council officers said the proposed four one-bedroom and three ‘studio’ apartments in Aylesbury would ‘harm’ nearby listed buildings.

Property company ‘Equity Real Estate (Gamma) Ltd’ had applied to build an additional floor on the roof of the Kings Court flats on George Street.

The existing three storey apartment block features gated parking and several flats with double bedrooms, open plan living areas and kitchen and dining areas.

In its refusal of the plans to extend the site upwards, the council said: “It is not considered that the permanent and irrevocable harm to the assets’ significance is outweighed by the public benefits of the proposed development.”

The heritage assets nearby Kings Court include the former Fever & Cirque nightclub, which is Grade II listed.

The applicant’s proposals for its acrylic-clad upper extension included some rooms with as little as 39 square metres floorspace, into which was crammed a double bed, kitchen and dining area and a sofa, with an adjoining bathroom.

Planning officers took issue with the size of the proposed bedrooms, due to national technical housing standards.

They said this may have been grounds for refusal alone if it were not for the reason for harm to heritage assets.

Their report read: “Based on the current submissions, the bedrooms in Units 01 and 07 fall short of this minimum size requirement and therefore the development would fail to provide adequate residential amenity for the future occupiers of these units.”