Homes plan for historic Halifax town centre building is given thumbs up

Calderdale Council planners have approved proposals by Wilkinsons Developments Ltd to change the use of St John’s House, St John’s Lane, Halifax, from professional services to nine self-contained apartments.

No representations were received on the application, and planning officers permitted, and gave listed building consent to make the changes, agreeing that less than substantial harm would be caused under national planning guidance.

It would result in needed rental accommodation in the town centre and secure a viable use for the listed building, which would outweigh planning harm. Proposed reinstatement of usable doorways and the removal of the ramp to the front also weigh in its favour, they said.

St John’s House, part of a terrace that fronts Clare Road, Halifax, is within the Halifax Town Centre Conservation Area and as Grade II listed is described as “of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve it.”

The building would have been constructed as a private dwelling house, but has more recently been used as commercial offices and an NHS drug and alcohol support centre, says a supporting statement submitted with the application by Domus Architecture.

Each successive change of use and fit-out appears to have removed any internal original features – as a result, it is the facades and external detailing that is significant.

The proposals will not lead to any harmful impacts on the host building or any the wider Conservation Area, argues the supporting statement, with development proposals amounting to “less than substantial harm” as set out in national policy guidance.

Works will not affect the external detailing or facades, it said.

Rather development will “intimately enhance the character and appearance of the Conservation Area”, bringing the building back into use – it has been vacant since the NHS moved out and there are no realistic prospects of the building coming back into viable, commercial use, says the statement.

Accordingly, creating living space is deemed to be most appropriate and will ensure that the building can be maintained in the long term, it argued.