A former bathroom showroom in Wootton could be turned into flats, removing a large commercial premises from the High Street.
There are already 2 flats above the former Atlantis Heating and Plumbing showroom on Wootton High Street, but that number could expand to 5 within the building under new plans lodged with the Isle of Wight Council.
A change of use application has been put forward by Alex Cozens, the director of Atlantis, and seeks to add 3 flats on the ground floor.
The plumbing business is still operating but the showroom, which opened in 2019, has closed. Before that, the property was Sightguard Security Centre.
In planning documents submitted by Elmstone Architectural, a 3-storey and a 2-storey extension could be built to make space for 4x 1-bed and 1x 2-bed flats in the building.
The proposals could maintain the existing shop frontage with glazing style to keep the current street scene.
Separate confidential documents provided to the authority are said by the planning agents, to justify the loss of the commercial space on the High Street, instead turning it into residential accommodation.
An outbuilding on the site will be retained for the plumbing business and used as storage.
You can view the application, 23/00242/FUL, on the council’s planning register. Comments can be submitted until 17th March.
This should be given planning support. Repurposing empty commercial property is less disruptive , probably more cost effective and certainly better for the environment than huge developments on existing open spaces.
This also provides flats that will be more affordable than many of the houses in the currently proposed housing developments.