POLL: Do you think the plan for flats on the former Newbury Magistrates Court site is 'unimaginative' and looks like a 'monolithic block'?

Plans to redevelop the site of the former Newbury Magistrates Court building have been dubbed a cross between a fire station and a car park.

The town council has been asked to comment on the plans which could see 28 flats at the Mill Lane site.

"It is an unimaginative box," councillor Gary Norman (Lib Dem, Wash Common) told the developers at a planning and highways committee on Wednesday. "You could do better. It looks like a cross between a car park and a fire station."

Eight of the 28 one- and two-bed flats are designated as ‘affordable homes’. Two are earmarked for social housing.

The Newbury Society has also lodged an objection to the scheme on the grounds of design, landscaping, and harm to a conservation.

Society chairman Prof David Peacock said: “As proposed, the four-storey flat-roofed design would present as a monolithic block from across the river.”

You can read the full story about the planning meeting here. More pictures of the plans are below.

Do you agree with Messers Norman and Peacock? Vote in our poll: