A new plan has been submitted for apartments on a car park in Old Town.

The private car park in Victoria Road is already subject to consent for two houses.

But now, developer Greenbird Development has put in the plan for the car park behind 170-174 Victoria Road, towards the bottom of the hill near Regent Circus.

There is already a plan, with consent, by William Arthur Property to build two very modern houses, on the stepped car park site.

But Greenbird Development says of that scheme: “Since the approval of that application, additional work has been carried out which has concluded that the scheme would not be viable to deliver given the current market of the area and the overall cost of the build.

“As such the development has been revisited to deliver additional, but smaller dwellings, more appropriate to the area.”

Greenbird’s plans show the four flats would be built in a two-storey L-shaped building fronting on to Cross Street.

The apartments fronting on to Cross Street would be set across both floors, with kitchens and lounges on the ground floor and two bedrooms and a bathroom each on the first floor.

The flats running perpendicular to those have two bedrooms each but are on one floor only.

The developer’s application says: “The development proposals portray a high-quality development, which sits comfortably within its setting.

“The extent of the development has mirrored and is a continuation of the existing predominant building line on Cross Street. This enhances and respects the surrounding area, does not result in a negative impact on the street scene and is not considered overdevelopment as a result.”

While the main access to the apartments is from Cross Street, the access for cars to the site is either along a narrow path from Victoria Road, or between the houses and the car repair garage business next door.

There will be five parking spaces allocated to the apartments, and a bike and bin store installed, with a small patch of garden at the rear of the building.

Some of the existing car park will be retained for existing users living in 171 to 174 Victoria Road.

The site is close to the Grade II-listed building of the former Technical School. A heritage report says: “The proposals will not affect to any degree the most important areas of setting, which is the experience gained from the approaching routes along Victoria Road in both directions.”