PLANS to turn a former Buckley restaurant into flats have been submitted - despite previous rejection.

The Leader previously reported that an appeal was launched at the end of April after an application to transform the Buckley Bar and Grill - which has been vacant since September 2018 - into 13 flats was rejected by councillors.

Concerns for future tenants of the Mill Lane properties included poor levels of natural light and severely restricted outlook from many of the proposed apartments.

At the time, the planning inspectorate also concluded the development would overlook some neighbouring homes, leading to a loss of privacy.

Now, several months on, amended plans have been submitted to Flintshire Council for the same venue - this time proposing nine flats.

Plans set out the vision of the apartments being a mixture of one, two and three bedroom homes in the heart of Buckley.

The planning statement attached to the application looks to adapt to the concerns which saw the plans dismissed previously.

It reads: “Each bedroom receives natural light through unobscured glazing, the vast majority of bedrooms have an outlook. Each principal living space has an outlook through clear glazing.

“Every habitable room has a window that can open to the outside. This creates a healthy environment and protects standards of residential amenity.”

It clarifies that, in the new plans, there are now no apartments with a direct outlook over Millers Court, allowing existing residents the privacy that they have become accustomed to.

This has been achieved by creating a vacant space in the middle of the building.

Council concerns about parking were also addressed in the new plans.

The statement reads: “In reducing the number of apartments, the applicant is also able to address local leaders concerns around car parking and the ‘chance of ad-hoc parking occurring along the access route to the car park’.”

The newly-proposed parking provision is now for 14 spaces and also looks to ease worries about access width of the car park raised by local residents, whilst still allowing access to the rear of neighbouring Brunswick Road.

The application is currently in the Consultation Period of the planning process and welcomes comments from businesses and the public about the development via Flintshire Council’s website until October 6.