Former NSPCC centre in Coventry to become student flats

The one-storey building will become 21 student flats including six two-bed rooms

A former NSPCC centre in Coventry is to be turned into flats for students.

Boole House on Whitefriars Street was sold by the charity for £732,000 in December after it was shut two years ago.

Councillors have now given permission for it to be turned into accommodation for 27 students.

It was built for the NSPCC in the mid-1990s after a fundraising group raised over £450,000 for the project to support children and their families.

But it was one of nine sites to be shut by the charity, angering the Coventry and Warwickshire NSPCC Business Board, media reports from the time stated.

The group had raised over £3m to support Boole House over its lifetime.

Concerns about the area's crime rate were raised by West Midlands Police, but the planning officer judged they were not a reason to say no to the plans as measures like making the building gated and putting in lighting will manage the fear and risk of crime.

The building is next door to two pubs, the Phoenix and the Oak Inn, and so a 1.5m (5ft) "acoustic fence" will be built to protect students from the noise.