Andium Homes, which acquired the site on Springfield Road from another developer earlier this year, was yesterday granted permission to construct five three-storey, three-bedroom homes with parking on the land, which has been derelict since 2006.
Plans for the land, which is opposite the Robin Hood pub, were first submitted by Andium in February.
Since then, changes have been made to the plans to lower the height of the homes and to incorporate a derelict commercial building on the site into the proposals.
At yesterday’s public Planning meeting, Tony Steel, whose property backs onto the development, objected to the scheme.
He said: ‘The new development will take light away from the rear of my property.
‘I also don’t feel there is going to be sufficient space for ten
vehicles to be able to park.’
Planning Committee member Deputy Russell Labey, however, praised the application and described the development as ‘handsome’.
He said: ‘The committee takes any issues of unreasonable impact on neighbours very seriously, but it’s hard to argue against this development when there is a significant gap between the properties.
‘There is a good chance that this development will increase the value of existing properties because it will smarten up the area.’
Fellow committee member Deputy Graham Truscott added: ‘I would like to say that the architect has done a good job and the new development looks the business. It [the site] has been looking like a builders’ yard for I don’t know how long.’
Planning officer Lawrence Davies said that the department was happy with the design of the plans and added that there was not enough evidence to suggest there would be an unreasonable impact on neighbouring properties.
Speaking following the meeting, Dominique Caunce, from Andium, said: ‘The current scheme was already well developed at the time we acquired the site. Given previous comments of the Planning Committee, some minor amendments were made to that scheme, including conversion of the former meat wholesale building to additional parking/amenity space.
‘We are therefore very pleased to have seen unanimous support from the committee in their approval.’
Also sitting on the committee was chairwoman Constable Juliette Gallichan and Deputies Jeremy Maçon and Richard Rondel.
