DEVELOPERS have launched a new bid to turn the former offices of a town council into 12 flats after a legal ruling quashed their original plans.

Chinewood Ltd, owners of the old Portland Town Council Offices, have resubmitted their bid requesting approval for a change of use and full planning permission for the building in Fortuneswell after civic chiefs at Weymouth and Portland Borough Council lost a planning battle at the premises in North Quay about whether Acorn needed planning permission for its change of use approach to converting the former local government offices into homes.

This ruling stemmed from an appeal over the North Quay site after the council told Acorn the building was “sui generis”, or one of a kind, and any scheme for flats would need planning approval to overturn the block’s designated local government use.

Planning Inspector, LJ Slade, disagreed, stating in a ruling: “Since we are concerned with the nature of the use, and not the purpose of the user, it does not seem to make any difference whether the administration is business administration, government administration or any other kind of administration.”

The borough council confirmed that with reference to the Portland Town Council Offices, the inspector’s decision also applies because the building was designated for use by local government and therefore came under the same principal as the North Quay planning decision.

As a result, the previous application to convert the Portland building into flats, submitted in January 2017, was invalidated and two separate applications, one for full planning permission and another for change of use were submitted in March and February. 

In response to the ruling, surveyors Elis and Partners, said: “We can find no reason why the local planning authority should choose to uphold their statement about the use class of this building. There is a clear national precedent in favour of this type of development, and with cases now setting out what does and does not constitute a B1(a) office there can be no “grey areas” in decision making.

“Therefore, it is our strong opinion that this change of use [at the Portland offices] should be supported without any further delay or costs to either the applicant or the local authority.”

The town council moved out of the building in 2016, and into new offices in Easton Street after being paid £50,000 by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council to vacate the offices so the building could be sold.

Under the proposals, the plans would not include any alterations to the external layout as the layouts of the 12 one-bedroom flats will ‘work with the building to utilise existing window openings on all floors to provide natural light to all habitable rooms’.

People can have their say on the plans at the Dorset For You planning portal until April 20.