PLANS have been lodged to convert a chapel into flats in Bournemouth.

Developers want to create two two-bedroom flats in the former Malvern Chapel, in Nursery Road in Moordown.

The current building is vacant, having been sold by the congregation of the Harvest Community Network, a Christian faith group, in June 2022.

The group’s pastor, Pastor R. Campbell, said the chapel was ‘in a poor state of repair and no longer fit for purpose.’

There is already a three-bedroom flat in the first floor of the building, but developers want to convert the chapel space and function rooms into two new flats.

Previously, plans were refused in August to change the building into three flats, as in this new proposal.

The council planning authority rejected the plans as they failed to ‘provide adequate daylight/sunlight provision’ for flats one and two.

It also found the proposed staircase added to the side of the building, the new bin and cycle store, and the forecourt layout would ‘result in incongruous additions to the street scene failing to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area.’

In the previous proposal, one of the flats was to be a three-bedroom flat. This has been reduced to a two-bedroom flat in the fresh proposal.

New windows and roof lights will be added to increase the amount of sunlight into the flats.

The proposed cycle store has been moved from the front of the building, split into two, and placed on either side of the former chapel.

A new staircase will also be added to access the first floor flat, but it will be painted black to address concerns highlighted in the previous plans’ refusal.

In a design and access statement submitted to the council by Pure Town Planning on behalf of the applicant, the developers highlighted that the development of the chapel ‘has been supported at several other redundant church sites within the borough.’

It concluded the proposal ‘ought to be supported by the LPA (local planning authority).’

It said: “Overall, the proposed use will bring a vacant building back into a viable use, which will boost the supply of housing at time when the Council have a significant shortfall of housing sites.

“Such benefits should be afforded significant weight in the overall planning balance.”

The plans were submitted at the start of November and it is yet to be determined.