Flats plan for former office block approved

Proposals to turn an abandoned office block in Mansfield town centre into 30 residential flats have been given the green light.

The top floors of Ashmead Chambers, in Regent Street, were once home to students at West Nottinghamshire College, but have been vacant for more than 10 years.

Its ground floors are still occupied by commercial retailers such as the Mark Leeson hairdressers, Regency Cleaners and the British Heart Foundation.

Now, permission has been granted for local developer Jack Townsend to put 10 single-bedroom apartments on each of the three upper sections of the building, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Townsend was responsible for the redevelopment of the old Dial pub in the Market Place, and told members of Mansfield District Council's planning committee on Tuesday, that demand for single-bedroom flats in Mansfield was high.

He added that the average occupier of the flats will likely be between the ages of 21-35 and could be expected to be employed locally at somewhere like Sports Direct or Amazon.

He said: "I'm very proud to be developing my town centre. I think this is a fantastic opportunity to bring Mansfield town centre back to life, to boost the economy [and] to have blue collar workers working in Mansfield. It'd be an honour to do it."

The building has been subject to arson incidents, windows being smashed and three break-ins over the past 10 months, and Mr Townsend said it was a "mess inside".

Planning officer Dan Galpin said despite the proposal containing no plans for parking spaces for the 30 residents, highways authority Nottinghamshire County Council had not objected due to the proximity of the development to major services.

There were concerns raised about the fact all the proposed properties were one-bedroom flats when Mansfield's local plan stipulates a desire for two-three bedroom properties if possible, but Mr Galpin said the town centre geography and site context made this acceptable.

Supporting the proposal, Labour councillor Angie Jackson said: "Looking at pictures, particularly of the back of the building, I think this is a great opportunity to see a really good development in an area that's really badly neglected."

Fellow Labour councillor Anne Callaghan said the development would repurpose the building that "looks shocking".

She added: "It will be bringing more footfall into our town centre, bringing regeneration and if it's anything like some of the other developments that Mr Townsend has done it will be really, really good for our town."

The building would only need minor changes externally to make it more suitable for residential use, with some changes to the windows and patterns of the windows.

A small number of the flats would be fitted with juliette balconies.

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