Plans to transform vacant buildings in the town centre, which includes the former Electric Picture House into a new complex have been met with objections.

Mr Takiar, of Raan Cross Ltd, of Leek, has applied to Cheshire East Council seeking planning perMsion for a mixed-use development at 20, 20a, 22 and 22a Mill Street, Cross Street Garage, 2 and 4, Cross Street. The site occupies 0.11 hectares of land.

Hannah Barter, of D2H Planning Development, who are the agents for applicant Mr Takiar, attended Thursday's Congleton Town Council planning meeting.

If approved, two minor single-storey outbuildings will be demolished, one attached to the rear of Cross Street garage and one lean-to the rear of 4, Cross Street.

The former will allow vehicular access into the courtyard; the latter will be rebuilt as a two-storey component of the house. The site lies within the West Street Conservation Area.

Plot A (20-22 Mill Street) would have two commercial units on the ground floor, and one ground floor, two first floor and one second floor apartment.

Ms Barter said: "It's important to repair the conservation area because I think we will agree that section could do with some improvement and to help improve the overall appearance on that lower part of Mill Street.

"As we move around the corner to Cross Street, there is that open gap section at the moment, that is proposed to be a ground floor café, because at the moment it's a bit of dead and wasted space.

"That will serve as two purposes, we have noted the discussions in the neighbourhood plan that there is a requirement for additional properties for independent living for older people, so that café could be used by those that would occupy the apartments in the converted picture houses as well as being open to the general public."

Plot B (2 and 4, Cross Street) would have one three-bedroom and one four-bedroom unit. Plot C (Cross Street Garage) would be converted into 10 apartments, some with one bedroom and some two, on three floors, with stair lifts.

On the former Electric Picture House, Ms Barter, added: "All the important things like the doorway entrances and window detailing and the gable, all of those will be retained, we're proposing the same window as we have at the moment.

"In order to make the conversion of the building viable, we needed to put in an additional storey, what we were very cautious about is the street is exceptionally barrow and we've got a fantastic Methodist church opposite, and we didn't want to have an overbearing impact.

"We worked carefully as a design team and we've proposed that we put in an additional floor which is set back from the front of the building so when you stand on Cross Street you won't actually be able to see that new upper floor."

The development would have spaces for 11 cars and seven cycles.

Cllr Robert Douglas thought the entrance and car parking to the site would have been better served if it were retained at its current location, which was 5m wide instead of the proposed entrance which was only half of that.

Ms Barter stated that the issue was trying to create as much car parking facilities as possible on the site, and if the existing entrance was used, the number of car parking spaces would be halved.

Rev Andrew Calvert, Pastor of Cross Street Church, who shared his objections to the application at Thursday's meeting, stated he was initially "very pleased" to see retirement apartments proposed.

Mr Calvert wished the planners would have consulted Cross Street Church earlier like they did with Congleton Town Council, Cheshire East, Protect Congleton Civic Society and Congleton Sustainability Group, but not the church, who are "virtually the hole on the other side of the street".

Mr Calvert stated the extra storey would result in loss of sunlight, overshadowing, overlooking and loss of privacy at the church.

The Pastor of Cross Street felt the changes to the Electric Picture House were far more than repairing and maintaining, which he labelled a "massive change" that included adding additional windows, a big balcony and Juliette balconies in place of smaller windows.

Whilst none of the buildings are listed, Mr Calvert stated that the properties were of historical interest and in particular the Electric Picture House, which was the town's first cinema built in 1910, he felt that any development should "preserve and conserve the integrity of this historical building".

Mr Calvert: "Putting the additional storey on would be detrimental to its design appearance, and I think it would no longer have the appearance of a historic building at all, it would completely change it into a modern looking building and would not be recognised as the old picture house."

Mr Calvert's biggest concern was the safety of the public and the church's congregation, with the vehicular access to the proposed scheme being directly opposite the church, which he described as an "accident waiting to happen".

Cross Street's Pastor felt the current access to, 2 Cross Street, which had been used as a garage for years, before it became Artists Co-operative, allowed large vehicles to come in and out of the building due to the road at that point being 5m wide. He claimed that would be a "safe place" to enter the site.

Mr Calvert told the committee that if the access were in a different place and the additional storey was taken off, he would have supported the project, but he registered his strong objections to the current plans.

A traffic survey which found there was "extremely light" traffic on Cross Street was confirmed by Ms Barter to have been undertaken during lockdown.

Cllr Kay Wesley stated that there was no connectivity to commuter trains from the site, and she wanted the developers to investigate providing additional bus services, which would give residents the opportunity to get to Congleton Station.

Cllr Suzy Firkin said: "This is a fantastic opportunity this development, I'm really pleased to see a scheme being put together in that area, because it really does need something and I really hope with perhaps some changes to meet these objections we can find a through it, because I wouldn't like to see a scheme that has a lot of positive things to offer fall by on things that can be addressed."

Cllr Amanda Martin, chair of the planning committee, stated that the three- and four-bedroom terrace "family" houses proposed, had no amenity spaces for children to play out in.

Cllr Martin added: "I don't think that's good enough, the whole thing wants rethinking and I would say fewer flats. I was amazed by the number of bedrooms squeezed into this complex."

Congleton Town Council objected to the application due to the proposed access point, the need to retain the current car parking capacity and concerns over the lack of sunlight and amenity space.

Residents have until 25th June to submit their comments on the application, which can be accessed here and Cheshire East has set 10th August as the decision target date.