A PLANNING application for the former Marjo Fashions shop in Lowbourne was discussed at a meeting of Melksham Town Council’s economic, development and policy committee last week. The plans are to convert the retail unit on the ground floor and two upper floors into five 1 and 2 bed flats.
Marjo Fashions was one of Melksham’s longest established businesses and it closed last year, following the death of its owner, Marjo Jones.
The shop at 8-12 Lowbourne has been vacant since then and the new owners, Thornton Property Developments, have put in the planning application for change of use from E Class retail on the ground-floor and C3 residential on the first and second-floors to C3 residential.
At the meeting, cllr Colin Goodhind said of the building, “I would like to make the comment that anything else would be better than what it looks like at the moment.” Other councillors agreed, but said the building was in a transient state at the moment.
Councillors discussed the building, which is in a conservation area and the potential loss of a retail outlet, although it was agreed that there was no guarantee that the shop could be filled. They also said that allowing buildings in town to be residential was not a bad idea, as long as the balance with retail outlets was correct. A councillor said, “I would have liked to see another shop open there … but having people living in the High Street is always good for security. I agree that it will look a lot better than what was there before.”
Councillors said it was the best option in this case, but they would still like to see as many shops remain on the High Street as possible. However, the issue of parking spaces on the plans, which would be available for the development, was raised as a problem.
Cllr Simon Crudell said, “I am hugely in favour of making the High Street somewhere for people to live but for this one, I cannot see the parking, and that is a real issue. The plans for five flats are five parking spaces – that is not enough.”
He added, “Personally, I am hugely in favour of them doing this and turning it into residential again, but you need to have adequate parking. It’s overdevelopment. We have to plan for 1.8 spaces per dwelling and this falls alarmingly shy of that.”
Councillors agreed that a residential use for such a big building was a good idea and they were sympathetic to the aims of the plans. However, they objected on the grounds of overdevelopment and lack of parking spaces, which was unanimous.
To see the plans, visit the planning section of Wiltshire Council’s website. The application number is PL/2022/04969.