Plans submitted to turn vacant Bognor Regis care home into 8 bedroom HMO

The plans apply to Cordell House Rest Home, on Victoria Drive, which was once a care home with seven bedrooms, but has been empty and neglected for several years.

If permission is granted, contractors will remove the existing garage on the front elevation of the property in order to create space for an additional window to the left of the building. It is also hoped this will bring a sense of symmetry to the ground floor of the site, while adding extra space to the drive way.

On top of this, there are also plans to replace the building’s existing roof in order to facilitate the removal of existing chimney breasts. In order to keep the building’s Victorian character, the new roof will be constructed using synthetic slates which resemble the original material, and none of the external facades will be changed. It's hoped this will ‘respect the scale and rhythm of the street scene'.

Each of the eight bedrooms constructed will come with their own individual bathroom facilities and the eight occupants will share a communal living and dining space on the ground floor.

The new application comes after a previous application to turn the property into a ten bedroom HMO was rejected by Arun District Council last year.

Planning officers felt the changes to the roof detailed by the previous plans were not in keeping with the character of the area: “(it) would have a significantly harmful impact upon the host dwelling and character and appearance of the locality," they said.

Bognor Regis Town Council also filed an objection to the previous plan, suggesting Bognor Regis does not need another HMO. They went on to say that local demand for parking had increased due to the number of smaller households, which has led to a range of amenity issues.

Alongside this, two letters of objection to the previous application were received, both claiming parking in the area was already impossible, and that more residents – some with vehicles – would only exacerbate the problem.

To find out more about the application, search for BR/12/23/PL on the Arun District Council planning portal.

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