Plans for 127 flats on the site of the former Arriva bus depot have been approved by Watford borough Council.
Following demolition the former bus garage in St Albans Road in Garston will be replaced by five new residential buildings.
The permission was granted to applicant Fairview New Homes after the council’s planning committee met on September 7 to discuss the planning application.
The approved proposal is for five buildings ranging from three to five storeys in height, with 90 parking spaces, communal landscaped amenity areas, 232 cycle parking spaces and other associated development.
The developer had previously put forward plans to build 165 flats, this was refused by WBC and a planning inspector due to the loss of the locally listed building, the scale and design of the buildings and encroachment of the established building line.
Five members of the committee voted in favour of the scheme.
Cllr Peter Jeffree, Chair of development management committee, said: “The new design for the homes on the Garston Bus Garage site is a significant improvement on the earlier rejected design and the internal landscaped areas are much more attractive.
“The reduction in the number of homes makes it a more balanced scheme. The developer took on board many of the Committee’s comments on their previous application to achieve this, which is why this new scheme has now been approved.
“The site has been vacant for a very long time and will never come back into use as a bus garage, and has deteriorated, leaving it open to becoming a focus for anti-social behaviour. It is important for the community to now see it evolve and put to a new use, becoming a pleasant place where people can settle and make their homes.”
Cllr Jeffree voted for the scheme along with his Liberal Democrat councillors Stephen Johnson, Mark Watkin, Rabi Martins, and Glen Saffery,
Meriden ward councillor Jenny Pattinson voted against the plans, along with Labour’s Richard Smith and Sara-Jane Trebar.
Labour group leader Nigel Bell abstained.
Picture credit Fairview New Homes
Odd how Mark Watkin stated in 2019 that the bus garage is a landmark building and then 2 years later changed his mind.