A DEVELOPMENT company’s latest proposal for flats on a route into historic Bury St Edmunds has been criticised.

Maynewater Developments Ltd has submitted revised plans for the former Linnet Service Station site in Maynewater Lane following the refusal of a planning application in May.

The St Edmundsbury Borough Council committee turned the plans down on design grounds, including the scheme’s scale and proportion.

But despite some changes being made to the proposal – including introducing varied eaves, gables ends, projecting bays and steps to break up the mass of the building – concerns remain.

In a written objection, Roderick Rees, on behalf of the Bury Society and in collaboration with the Southgate Residents’ Association and the Suffolk Preservation Society, said: “We considered that the layout and appearance of the previous submission were quite alien to the site’s location. However, with this new submission, the applicant has simply applied a superficial veneer to a flawed design. The footprint is virtually the same as previously submitted, but the facades have been given a cliched 1980s’ ‘vernacular’ makeover.”

A statement submitted with the application said the proposals had been discussed with planning officers over a considerable period and further to the planning refusal and most recently last month. “It was agreed at this last meeting that all the reasons for refusal had been satisfactorily addressed.”