Plans have been unveiled to create flats in a town’s former bank building.
An application has been put in to create seven homes within the former Lloyds building in Market Square, Dover.
The branch had closed on April 11 but a change of use application has been made to convert the building.
Part of the ground floor will retain a retail space with previously used office space at the rear made into a two-bedroom home.
Meanwhile, a one-bedroom flat will be created on a mezzanine level on the first floor with four more apartments – two one-bedroom and two two-bedroom – on the first and second floors.
A two-bedroom flat is proposed on the third floor.
Only one member of the public has objected to the new scheme on the Dover District Council planning portal,
Ross Miller said the development was over-intensive.
‘I would love to see this property sympathetically converted into the good-sized flats that are aimed at families…’
He wrote: “Whilst I fully support the provision of town centre ‘over shop’ residential accommodation, given the way it feeds into the economy, this proposal is not the answer.
“I would love to see this property sympathetically converted into the good-sized flats that are aimed at families, which is what the town centre needs.”
The application has been submitted by Zem Partners Ltd, which is registered as a company owning and letting real estate with Companies House.
Applicants say it will be a car-free development.
The building had been occupied by Lloyds on all floors and it is not yet known what will be done with the proposed retail area on the ground floor of the bank’s main customer area.
Lloyds announced it was closing the branch last November as part of the continual trend of high street branches disappearing.
Reduced footfall as more people move to banking online has been blamed by the banks on high street closures.
The town’s NatWest branch, across the square, is shutting down on July 16 with an application also lodged this month to remove its signage and cash machines.
Barclays, a few hundred yards away, closed in June 2021. Meanwhile, Halifax, further up the precinct, shut down in September 2022.
