New plans to rebuild a former shop in Littlehampton have been submitted for approval to Arun District Council.
They would see the derelict 46a and 46b Pier Road buildings demolished and rebuilt to fit ground floor commercial space at 46a and four covered parking spaces at 46b, with a one two bedroom and one single bedroom flat above respectively.
The site used to be home to the Dutch Bike Shop and Coastal Cycles which relocated, now to 10 Anchor Springs in Littlehampton, sometime between 2017 and early 2018.
Approved plans from 2018 and 2022 aimed to rebuild the site with four, mostly studio and one bed flats but were never followed through by developers.
The current applicants said in the plans the studio and one bed makeup affected the potential ‘saleability’ and ability to rent the properties once finished, and so were looking to deliver less flats in total with more space to each one.
They said: “This scheme has been checked with local estate agents by a motivated developer/owner and, as submitted, the application represents an economically viable solution which will help to ensure the scheme comes to fruition”.
They said the flats were all on the first floor of the two storey buildings as the site is within a flood risk area.
One resident has objected to the plans so far, saying the plans are ‘overdevelopment’, and the new flats would become ‘bedsits’ instead of ‘quality’ homes for residents, adding it could make parking more difficult in the surrounding area.
