Fourteen new flats can be built in Huntingdon town centre after the district council approved its own planning application.

The proposed development for a mix of two-bedroom and one-bedroom homes over three storeys in St Mary’s Street was given the green light by members of Huntingdonshire District Council’s (HDC) development panagement panel last Monday (June 16).

The homes, which include 10 parking spaces, will be on what was once the car park for Pathfinder House, opposite a row of Victorian terraced houses.

Huntingdon and Godmanchester Civic Society had opposed the plans on several grounds, including that the flats would be “overbearing” and “architecturally aggressive”.

It called on planners to agree a more “traditional design” to fit in with the existing homes.

But Sheila Lindsay, HDC’s development management officer, advised that the proposal was of “acceptable” design and would “integrate well” and “enhance the character and appearance” of St Mary’s Street.

The plot had been earmarked for a two-storey office block but that plan was ditched in preference of putting up flats. A planning application submitted in 2007 was refused but another was agreed in 2011.