Plans to build three flats above a shop in Littlehampton High Street have been approved by Arun District Council.
The application from Emsworth Developments Ltd was given the nod during a meeting of the planning committee on Wednesday (June 7).
It will see the two floors above the Card Factory reconfigured to turn the four-bedroom maisonette currently there into three flats.
The Card Factory will remain unchanged.
The agent for the applicant called the maisonette ‘out-dated’ and ‘no longer fit for purpose’, adding that the new flats would be ‘compact and affordable’.
For compact read ‘small’. A report to the committee said one of the flats – a one-bedroom unit intended for one person – ‘only just meets minimum standards’ at 37sqm but was ‘acceptable’.
The other two will be a one-bedroom flats for two people.
The agent said the aim was to make the flats available to rent in six to 12 months.
The council received an objection to the plans from Littlehampton Town Council, which called the application ‘over-development’ and raised concerns over the size of the flats, safety and ventilation.
On the latter point, the agent said that a ‘fit-for-purpose’ ventilation system would be included in all three flats which would ‘meet and most likely exceed building regulation requirements’.
To view the application, log on to www.arun.gov.uk/planning-application-search and search for LU/49/23/PL.
