Plans to turn County Hall into flats approved

County Hall in Ipswich was used by East Suffolk County Council and Suffolk County Council

Plans to transform a historical building that has been left vacant for two decades into flats has been approved.

Ipswich County Hall, a Grade II listed building in St Helen's Street, was previously used as the East Suffolk County Council headquarters until 1974. It was then used by Suffolk County Council until 2004.

Despite council officers concluding after a financial viability assessment that the scheme was unviable, they supported the proposal as it would bring a new use to the empty building.

During a meeting of Ipswich Borough Council's planning and development committee on Wednesday, councillors unanimously voted to approve the plans to convert the building into 40 new flats.

Plans to turn the vacant building into one for residential use was submitted in 2018 and approved two years later.

However, this was subject to the applicant paying financial contributions.

A financial viability assessment showed the estimated gross development value of the project would be more than £10m, with gross development costs amounting to more than £11m.

During a meeting on Wednesday, councillors were asked to waive the need for compulsory financial contributions and three affordable units when agreeing to sign the legal agreement for work to begin at the site.

Despite this, officers noted there would be £5,690.80 in recreational disturbance avoidance and mitigation strategy contributions remaining.