Flats approved despite affordable housing concerns

Plans for 27 town centre flats in a Woking Borough Council-owned building have been approved despite concerns over a lack of affordable housing.

The new homes will replace the top two floors of the former office block in Church Street, Woking, off Goldsworth Road and will include 51 parking spots.

At a planning committee meeting on 3 June, the plans were voted through with minimal fuss as the rules surrounding office-to-home conversions limited councillors' powers, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council did not push for affordable housing as officers told the meeting it was not required as part of the conversion from offices.

Previous efforts to turn the former block into housing failed over light and noise issues, but council officers assured councillors these had since been addressed.

Councillor Daryl Jordan said: "I'm fairly upset that there is no social housing, which gets dumped on other people.

"The [flats] are all small and there is nothing for families."

The near 40-year-old building frontage will remain the same, according to the approved plans.

Some of the partitions between the flats will be through the external glazing, but the planning committee was told it was not within its powers to determine how the flats should be laid out.

Council officers said in a report: "There are a fixed list of issues we can address – but the partitioning of apartments is not one."

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