The car hand wash site on Northdown Road, at the corner with Athelstan Road, could become a block of 20 flats with two ground floor retail units if planning permission is granted by Thanet council.
The site, which is adjacent to the Pettman Repository Building that was once the home of Resort art studios, was previously a petrol station.
In recent years it had become the subject of complaints due to flytipped rubbish being left at the site.
In 2021 the property was offered at auction and there was planning permission in place for two commercial units and 21 two-bedroom flats.
The current planning application is for 13 one-bed and 7 two-bed flats and 2 ground floor retail units with associated refuse stores, storage and landscaping following demolition of existing workshop.
The proposed new building would be an L-shaped block, four storeys high fronting Northdown and Athelstan Roads with a lower ground floor accessed from a ramp down from the latter.
The application, by Ang Construction Ltd, proposes 20 cycle spaces but no car parking area.
Athelstan Road Tenants & Residents’ Association Chairperson Matt Shoul has lodged an objection saying the proposal is: “atrociously inappropriate attempt to further increase the population density on Athelstan Road.”
He added that it is: “inherently inappropriate and ought to be rejected on overpopulation/overcrowding grounds on Athelstan Road, irrespective of where the building entry points may be placed – being a corner site.
“It is also aesthetically utterly out of keeping with the Cliftonville West Conservation Area status and merely having bricks on some areas of the truly hideous façade is grossly inadequate for the 150 year old Victorian period architectural context in which the plot is sited.
“It is also a very significant concern that parking for a proposed 20 new households is not provided within the footprint of the plot, given the ultra high density population living on both Athelstan Road and this part of Northdown Road.”
A decision is yet to be made. The application can be seen on Thanet council’s planning portal, reference F/TH/23/0135
