Leicester shopping arcade rebuilding plans turned down

The scheme was praised for retaining the existing frontage but criticised for its "overpowering" scale

Plans to bulldoze a Leicester shopping arcade to make way for flats and shops have been turned down.

The Odeon Arcade, which links Market Place and Cank Street, would have been replaced by 10 ground-floor shops and 53 flats on up to six floors above.

But the scheme was branded "overbearing" by city council planners.

It would also have provided unacceptable living conditions for future tenants, along with a "negative visual impact" on the area, they added.

Blocked light

While the plan to retain the current facade and provide extra housing was praised in the report, the rest of the project had a "number of significant and fundamental issues".

The new building would have been taller than the existing one, stretching to five storeys on the Market Place side and six where it faces Cank Street, to the rear.

Planning officers criticised its proposed height and "bulk", saying the "excessive scale" would make the structure "overpowering and out of scale with the surrounding buildings in Cank Street" and would dominate views from Market Place.

The amount of light getting to flats at the heart of the new building was deemed "very poor" and access to a roof garden "prohibitively convoluted" for some residents, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The height of the building would also have blocked light to neighbouring flats in Cank Street, the report continued.

Planners refused the application under delegated powers, without it needing to go to a council vote.

Developer Made Architecture has been approached for comment.