KGK Consultants Ltd has again applied for prior approval to turn the unoccupied offices on the upper floors of 136 South Street into two one-bedroom flats.
A previous application, received by Havering Council’s planning team in November 2024, was refused last month over noise and traffic concerns.
The new proposals are nearly identical, with the planning statement revealing that the two flats, each designed for two people, would sit on the first and second floors of the building.
As before, there is no change of use proposed for the existing adult gaming centre, Lucky Star, on the ground floor.
When deciding the previous application, the planning officer concluded that the “potential noise” from the gaming centre would “unacceptably impact on living conditions”.
However, the statement submitted alongside the current proposals said that the addition of a suspended ceiling to each flat would “reduce the transmission of sound” between the homes and the gaming centre.
Also mentioned as a refusal reason previously was the impact of the proposed development on traffic.
The planning officer concluded that, because the future tenants of the flats would not be exempt from the nearby residential parking zone, the proposal would have an “adverse impact upon the free flow of traffic and the safety of highway condition”.
But, this time around KGK Consultants are proposing a “car-free development”, with the existing parking spaces at the back of the building set to be repurposed into a cycle shelter and refused space.
The applicant also said in its planning statement that it is “open to signing a legal agreement with the council to exempt the future occupiers of the site from residential parking zone”.
Prior approval is used to determine if permission is required for developments where a formal planning application is not needed.
Havering Council is expected to make a decision on this latest application by April 9.
