36 apartments approved for Luton street that has lost so much Victorian architecture it's no longer in the conservation area

New apartments have been approved on a section of a Luton street which has lost so much of its Victorian architecture it can no longer be included in the conservation area.

Too much of this building heritage vanished over time for the section of Rothesay Road to be included in a town centre conservation area, the borough council’s development control committee heard.

Applicant Julie Carolan for Emirates Investments submitted full plans for the demolition of the current premises at 18 to 22 Rothesay Road, with 36 new apartments at number 18, as part of a revised proposal.

This includes 14 one-bedroom, 15 two-bed and seven three-bedroom properties, with parking, cycle storage for 54 bikes and garden space, according to a report to councillors.

Principal planning consultant Suzanna Knowles explained: “This site is in between Unity House and GT House in a highly sustainable location and includes large units, which is welcome.

“It will follow the building line of the neighbouring properties on either side, with a slight setting back from the road.

“There’s no opportunity for on-street parking. But it’s considered that would be inappropriate and contrary to the council’s aim to address the climate change aspect of sustainable modes of transport.

“The applicant’s viability appraisal concluded the development is unable to support any contributions towards affordable housing, education and sustainable transport.

“As a result the local authority asked for an independent review of this assessment,” she added. “It concluded the scheme can’t meet all the demands within the council’s planning policy requirements.

“A mechanism would be required within the Section 106 agreement over the viability conclusions. No representations have been received.”

Director and founder of Benchmark Architects and agent Mark Doohan said: “We welcome the inclusion of the mechanism to review the viability later in the process.

“Our client’s intention is to hold on to the property after the development for some time to make sure it becomes viable.

“This application is a smaller version of a prior approval. This site was agreed previously for a larger scheme, which included the neighbouring plots. That joint venture partner no longer wanted to develop its part of this area.

“We’ve brought forward a revision to the proposals which improves the internal provision of larger two-bed and three-bedroom properties to enable our client to make progress with its section of the site.”

Labour Farley councillor Dave Taylor, who chairs the committee, suggested: “It’s good to see the previous application was for 50 apartments and this one is down to 36.

“Plenty of thought has been given to the type of accommodation provided.”

Liberal Democrat Barnfield councillor David Franks said: “At the time the conservation area was being considered and discussed, there were several conversations about whether this end of Rothesay Road should be included.

“The conclusion was generally agreed that too much of the Victorian architecture had been replaced already, and there wasn’t enough left to justify keeping it in the conservation area.

“There isn’t enough of that Victorian aspect left, although it’s sad to see it go. So I can’t see any reason for not allowing this project.”

Councillors unanimously approved the plans.