Flowery Field Post Office subject of HMO plan

A FORMER post office will be converted in to eight flats if planning permission is granted.

Sam Russell, of Staffordshire-based SJS Developments, has applied to Tameside Council to develop what was the facility in the Flowery Field area of Hyde.

After proposals to turn the Spring Gardens building into 18-bed and 13-bed house of multiple occupation (HMOs) have either been refused or withdrawn.

Now it is hoped this eight-flat suggestion – which can accommodate up to 13 people with a small extension but the demolition of existing outbuildings – can get the go ahead.

Documents for the application state: “These changes ultimately include a reduction in the scale and proportions of the extensions to the rear of the property and the reduction of the development within the roof space.

“An altered roof form will remove an existing roof which is largely incongruous and relates poorly to the adjoining terrace, enabling a more sympathetic relationship.

“The extensions to the rear of the property are the elements of the proposal which have experienced the largest revisions in terms of their design.

“What is proposed are now very clearly a series of subservient additions which are subordinate in scale when compared to the host property through either footprint, height, width or mass.

“This reflects a desire by officers on previous applications to retain the primacy of the parent building.

“This, in combination with the removal of dilapidated outbuildings ensures that the disused building is able to be brought back into economic use, whilst improving the character and appearance of the immediate townscape setting.”

A previous application to develop the site was refused in November because conversion and proposed extensions ‘would represent overdevelopment and occupation of the property.’

Other reasons included a proposed two storey rear extension, creating a greater sense of enclosure and resulting in an undue loss of light and outlook to a neighbouring property.

In this scheme, eight self-contained individual apartments with their own individual kitchen and living areas as well as bathrooms would be created.

One will be located on each of the basement and second floors, with the remaining six spread equally across the ground and first floors.

And the applicants argue: “It became clear that it was the preference of officers and consultees that this site came forward as delivering a series of apartments rather than as an HMO.

“Therefore, whilst it is re-iterated that the applicant still considers an HMO at this location suitable, contrary to the opinion of the authority, this new application is a direct response to the comments received in the hope of gaining planning approval.

“The proposed site remains sympathetic to, and in harmony with, the existing building whilst balancing the need to provide adequate private and communal amenity space for residents both internally and externally.

“In its current form, the existing plot is disused and in poor visual quality with several outbuildings to the rear of the property resulting in a cramped and informal layout and appearance.

“Through this development, all outbuildings will be removed, replaced with a single part two storey, part single storey extension.

“This will improve the visual appearance of the site as a whole and significantly reduce the total footprint of built form located on the plot.”