PLANS for a new office block to be built in a residential area of Christchurch have been halted.

A planning officer said the scheme by Nicholas Clark Developments was ‘unacceptable in principle’, and would result in flood risks.

The developer had applied for permission to build a two-storey block for ‘small start-up businesses’ on the land adjacent to 88 Stour Road. The site is largely open-grass and has been used for advertising posters.

A total of 19 objections were made to the planning application, with residents calling the scheme an ‘overdevelopment’ which was ‘inconsistent with the local area’.

They raised concerns about its ‘overshadowing’ design and location within a flood zone, as well as potential noise coming from the offices and insufficient parking in the area.

One representation said the land ‘should be used for housing not office space which is plentiful in the locality’.

Recommending the scheme for refusal, a BCP Council planning officer said: “The proposed development located land adjacent to 88 Stour Road within Christchurch is considered to be unacceptable in principle.

Proposed street sceneProposed street scene (Image: Dot Architecture)

“The proposed development by reason of its location within the current Flood Zone 2 and future Flood Zone 3a, will result in unacceptable flood risks on the site and increase flood risk elsewhere.

“The development has failed the flood risk sequential test as it has not been satisfactorily shown that there are no other available sites that could accommodate the development in a lower flood risk area.

“The proposed development is located outside of the defined Christchurch Town Centre area. Significantly, there are reasonable available sites which can accommodate the proposed use within the defined town centre boundary where these types of development are directed however, they have been discounted with no reasonable explanation and so development has failed the commercial Sequential Test.”

The planning officer did acknowledge the proposal was ‘acceptable’ in the context of harm to the character and appearance of the locality, impact upon neighbouring properties amenity, highways and flooding, subject to conditions.

BCP Council refused the planning application on August 2.

A previous scheme by Nicholas Clark Developments' to build two semi-detached homes on the land was refused in April last year.