More flats planned for development

DEVELOPERS have been given the go ahead to add seven more flats at a former government office building in Runcorn.

Halton Borough Council’s development control committee met on Monday, August 7, to consider an item concerning Castle View House on East Lane.

Planning permission was granted in June to convert the ex-Department For Education (DFE) building into 184 one-bed units, 45 two-bed flats and 12 studio apartments.

The original proposals outlined 241 units.

But on Monday, an application from Lettings Room Ltd sought a further seven units to bring the total up to 248.

The document was not a full planning application and asked to convert the same building to a higher number of units than previously.

Four aspects were listed for councillors to consider in the report.

Among those was parking and the document said 177 spaces would be available for the proposed 248 units.

It said: “Given the site’s sustainable location, proposed parking arrangement and the likely parking demand in this location, it is not considered that the proposal would have a severe transport and highway impact.

“The proposal is therefore considered acceptable in this regard.”

Other considerations included the site having a ‘low probability’ of river or sea flooding, while there was no requirement for detailed land contamination assessment due to the nature of the conversion.

A final aspect concerned noise impact from commercial premises around Castle View House.

But the report said noise from the surrounding premises was not considered to have a ‘significantly detrimental impact on residential amenity’.