A FERNDOWN restaurant could be converted into flats if a planning application is approved.

Bob Hull Planning, on behalf of Sloggett Group Ltd, has applied for permission to convert the restaurant at Peveril House in Ringwood Road – currently occupied by Chianti Pizzeria – into six one-bed properties.

“It was formerly an office building with ground floor shops … but now only has a restaurant occupying half of the ground floor area,” the application said.

“The remainder of the building comprises flats granted permissions or ‘prior approvals’ over the last eight years.

“To the rear of the building is a parking area accessed alongside the pair of two-storey shops on the eastern side.

“Permission has also been granted for a development of eight flats on a further private car park. The roof is now on this development.”

The scheme would ‘mirror the ground floor area of the other half of the building, and also replicate the layout of the upper floors’, the application added.

“The accommodation would comprise three one-person single bedroom units and three two-person single bedroom units all accessed from the hallway in the centre of Peveril House, which gives access to the existing six ground floor flats.”

A glazed conservatory-style extension across the front of the restaurant, with a central access, would be demolished revealing the original window pattern.

Part of the rear staircase on the exterior of the building would also be removed and there would be some changes to the windows and door on the rear elevation, the application said.

Meanwhile, six parking spaces currently allocated to the restaurant would provide spaces for the flats.

The application is now out for consultation before being considered by Dorset Council planners. For more details, and to comment on the scheme, log on to www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk and search for application reference P/FUL/2022/07628.