Plans have been put forward to turn a disused building in a Herefordshire town into four flats.

Manbro Developments, a Herefordshire firm specialising in repurposing older buildings, proposes to convert the two-storey 38 Rowberry Street in Bromyard, previously offices and a joinery workshop.

It is seeking acknowledgement (in application 241016) that it can go ahead with this under what are known as permitted development rights, which avoid the need for full planning permission.

RELATED NEWS:

All four flats would consist of an open-plan kitchen and living room, bedroom and bathroom.

The two on the ground floor would share a front door, while another door onto the street would lead into what would become a cycle and bin storage area.

Accessed from a side door, the first floor accommodation would extend over the storage area, making the flats slightly larger.

OTHER NEWS:

All four would meet the national standard minimum floorspace of 37 square metres, the application says, while the new properties would “increase footfall in the town and add to the vibrancy and vitality of the area”.

Indeed the building would originally been a house, and “remains redolent of residential as opposed to commercial use”, on a street without shop frontages.

Its town-centre location would be “highly sustainable” in transport terms, the application says, though the scheme “cannot provide for off-road parking”.

Similar car-free residential conversions have previously been approved elsewhere in Bromyard, it points out.

Comments on the application to determine if prior approval is required for the scheme can be made until May 9.