West Suffolk Council approves bid to turn Newmarket derelict garage building into apartments and commercial unit

A bid to turn a derelict garage building in a town into apartments and a commercial unit has been approved despite opposition.

Members of West Suffolk's development control committee yesterday discussed plans to demolish the former Goldings Garage building, in 8 Park Lane, Newmarket, and turn the site into five apartments and one commercial unit, after being vacant since 2020.

The bid, submitted by FYK Trade Ltd in October last year and later amended, followed proposals for a 20-bed hotel, which were withdrawn in 2023.

The latest plans received an objection from Newmarket Town Council based on the overdevelopment of the site in the context of it being in a conservation area.

Cllr John Harvey, Newmarket deputy mayor, highlighted further concerns with the lack of parking in an area already under ‘significant parking stress’.

The proposals were for a car-free scheme without any parking provision, instead including cycle storage.

Cllr Harvey said: “Newmarket Town Council would absolutely welcome an appropriately quality replacement to the current redundant derelict garage building — but we don’t consider that this scheme as proposed is it."

Cllr Rachel Hood, ward member, backed the concerns, saying though amended, the plans were still not satisfying.

She said: “Just because this building proposal is not as bad as the previous one and is something other than the derelict garage, that doesn’t make it acceptable.

“If people from that area are saying this is not good enough, this is an historic area, we cannot subscribe to what I would perceive as cultural vandalism.”

Cllr Andy Neal said: “Whatever you put there is going to be an improvement upon what’s sitting there now — but that doesn’t make it right that we consider this as being acceptable."

Despite the concerns James Melville-Claxton, the agent, said the building would be appropriate in scale and appearance and would not be dominant in the wider street scene.

He said: “The removal of the derelict building, with a high-quality design as detailed in this proposal, represents the opportunity to secure an improvement to this area."

The advantages of the car-free scheme were highlighted by Cllr Jon London, who said it would encourage those who might be at the stage of their lives when they could not afford a car but enable them to still access the town centre.

Ultimately, councillors voted to grant planning permission with 13 votes in favour and two against.