News

Change of note at listed bank buildings

blackmorevaleJune 14, 20210 Comment0

The closure of two banks within only around a hundred yards of each other in Cheap Street, Sherborne, has resulted in inevitable plans for their change of use.

Approval was granted by Dorset Council last month (21 May) for the decommissioning of Barclays Bank at 61 Cheap Street at the junction with Hound Street.

The proposal, to return the building to pre-Barclays occupation as much as it is possible preserving the listed building status, includes removal of existing external signage, ATM, nightsafe and CCTV camera and infilling of apertures and removal of internalt counters, furniture and some partitions.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of Cheap Street an application to change the use of the ground floor of the former Midland/HSBC Bank to a restaurant, takeaway and single flat has attracted a number of objections. Consultation closed last month on a parallel application for listed building consent, and closed on June 7 on revised plans for the alterations.

Sherborne and District Society/CPRE say it is a significant change from an original scheme approved in 2019 for a restaurant and two flats since it involves the demolition of a heritage asset – a fragment of medieval timber wall which is to be adapted for the passage of refuse containers.

“The surviving ground floor of a 16th century house which has been preserved and listed as part of the heritage asset of Long Street is dismissed by the applicant as seeming “unnecessary and unfitting with the flow of the existing 87-89 Cheap Street building,” says Sir Christopher Colville, acting chairman of the district society, asking that Historic England, which had no objection to the 2019 proposal, should be re-consulted.

The society has also supported the objections of a number of residents responding that the introduction of a takeaway which will generate an increase in traffic and impact negatively on the cultural character of the town’s setting.

Sir Christopher says: “The cumulative impact of the proposed takeaway, when considered alongside other recent developments (Pizza Pasta Mondo at 91 Cheap Street, will have an adverse impact on the historic setting.”