A FORMER doctor’s surgery will be turned into a house of multiple occupation (HMO) if planning permission is granted.
Atif Raza wants to turn the Audenshaw Medical Centre on Manchester Road into a six-bedroomed facility .
And documents state it will be ‘high quality and high specification’ for ‘professional people.’
The surgery, which closed last year, lies close to Fairfield High School and lies on the border with Openshaw.
But it is believed the scheme will bring new life to the building as a statement adds: “The applicant is proposing to invest significant resources into this project and wishes to utilise the building to its full potential, which will bring about significant economic, social and environmental benefits.
“The presence of a tidy and fully occupied building will help to improve the visual amenity of the local area and the perception of Audenshaw as a whole.”
Al six bedrooms will have en suite bathrooms, with one on the ground floor, three on the first floor and two on the second.
There will also be a shared garden area as, ‘the applicant is keen to look alter the wellbeing of the tenants and is providing the shared communal space to encourage tenants to mix and socially integrate with one another.’
Mr Raza, who is based at Foodworld on Ashton’s Katherine Street, is also asking Tameside Council for permission to modify the roof.
But the report insists it would improve the look and would not look out of place, adding: “It has a long row of terraced dwelling houses immediately adjoining it and arguably this position helps it to fit and integrate well with the residential properties.
“Based on the architectural features of the building, it is possible that it may have been originally constructed and used as a dwelling house, as the first-floor features mirror the next-door dwelling house.”
Tameside Council’s Speakers Panel (Planning) committee will decide whether to grant or refuse planning permission.