HUNTINGDONSHIRE planners will be asked next week to approve the building of 14 flats in their own car park. The scheme is part of the £16.5million replacement project for the district council s Pathfinder House headquarters in St Mary s Street, Huntingdon

HUNTINGDONSHIRE planners will be asked next week to approve the building of 14 flats in their own car park.

The scheme is part of the £16.5million replacement project for the district council's Pathfinder House headquarters in St Mary's Street, Huntingdon.

The two-and-a-half-storey building was originally intended to be part of the office complex, with the nearby Castle Hill House sold as flats.

But, when English Heritage refused to agree to the developers' proposals for the Grade II*-listed building, HDC decided to keep it as offices and re-design the St Mary's Street building.

Neighbours have objected to the proposal, urging that the site, originally part of the garden of Castle Hill House, should revert to urban green space.

They say the design is out of keeping with the terrace homes opposite in St Mary's Street, and they are concerned for the structural stability of their own homes.

Huntingdon and Godmanchester Civic Society has also objected to the design, which it says will clash with the late-Victorian houses and former drill hall opposite.

Planners accept that the proposed design is contemporary and does not seek to replicate the Victorian terrace opposite but it does include design details that are present in more traditional buildings.

They point out that next-door Centenary House, on the corner of the ring road, is also a modern design.