Planning round-up: Gerrards Cross office to be demolished for 58 new flats

A Gerrards Cross office is to be demolished for 58 new flats if a new planning application is approved.

This is just one of the many applications considered by Buckinghamshire Council during the past seven days.

To view more details for each application, go to the council’s planning portal with the reference number attached.

58 new flats, Phoenix House Oxford Road Denham / Gerrards Cross (PL/24/1787/FA)

Farmglade Ltd has said it will demolish the ‘low demand’ Phoenix House to make way for the dozens of new apartments it is proposing to build.

The local property developer claimed its planned one, two and three-bedroom flats were ‘much needed’ and in a ‘sustainable location’.

It added that the redevelopment of this green belt site was ‘in accordance with the local plan and government policy for the efficient use of brownfield land and the delivery of new homes’.

Farmglade’s plans state: “The proposed flats are of very similar scale, layout, form, and materials when compared to the existing building and are therefore compliant with green belt policy.

“However, the proposed new building is also an enhancement of the site, it has a residential character and is of an improved architectural design.

“Much of site will remain undisturbed by this redevelopment but it includes a reduction in car parking, an increase in cycle parking and additional landscaping around the new building.”

Extension refused over bats, 139 Chairborough Road High Wycombe (24/05246/FUL)

Mr Rais Ghafoor had applied to the council for permission for two first floor rear extensions and a garage conversion including a new flat roof.

His application for the two-storey detached property satisfied planning officers on many front, however they refused it due to the due a ‘lack of ecological surveys’ – in particular relating to roosting bats.

Planners said: “As such, there is insufficient information to demonstrate the proposal can conserve or enhance the biodiversity value of the site, to mitigate any direct harm to protect species.”

Council ecology officers said the ‘extensive’ works to the tiled roof to the rear of the property could impact bats, which are a protected species.

Acupuncture room, 12 Station Road Marlow (24/05625/CLP)

Bernard Guly of Dragonbridge Communications Ltd has been granted a certificate of lawfulness for his plans.

The applicant plans the downstairs living room to be used out of hours to ‘see acupuncture clients whilst keeping the main use of the property for residential purposes’.

The council said the room would be used by the applicant’s wife, an acupuncture therapist in the Marlow Clinic after 5pm for one-hour sessions.