A DEVELOPER wants to convert a town centre house into flats for single people after being warned the property would not sell as a family home.

Jalex Property Ltd has lodged a planning application with Cheshire East Council to convert 4 Darlington Street in Middlewich.

If approved, the detached property could become four one-bedroom apartments, with a two-storey extension to the rear.

The developer’s planning application reads: “Like most towns there is a lack of accommodation for single people, as most of the flats above shops or conversions tend to cater for couples or single parent families who need more than one bedroom.

“This proposal provides accommodation for single people who in most cases have no transport and need to be close to shops and amenities.

“Although this property has been occupied in its lifetime as a family home, it hardly fulfils the modern requirements for a family home due to the lack of garden and amenity space.

“It is hard to see how a modern family would cope on what is essentially a restrictive site.”

According to the report, the developer originally decided to extend the property as a family home with a new kitchen in an extension, before deciding on the four-apartment project instead as ‘estate agents consider that the property would not sell as a family home’.

No allocated parking spaces would be provided, with residents expected to park on-street further down Darlington Street, past the double yellow lines.

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Residents can comment on the scheme until Thursday, October 15.

To view the plans see ‘20/3104C’ on CEC’s planning website.