Former Gosport Burton could become flats - but residents are not happy

The property on 111-112 High Street previously had a Burton menswear shop on the ground floor with a nightclub and self contained flats on first and second floor.

The proposal would see an extension to the second floor at the rear of the building to form the flats while retaining a retail unit on the ground floor.

The applicant’s heritage statement says the proposed alterations to the building are complimentary ‘whilst also sympathetic to the surrounding assets’.

‘In light of the government’s decisions to promote the conversion of vacant inner-city commercial buildings into residential units, it is felt that this proposal is an opportunity for the local authority to promote good quality design which is both sympathetic and enhancing to the local conservation area as opposed to letting the building remain vacant and fall into a derelict state.’

However, a post on the proposal on the Facebook group Gosport Aware attracted 112 comments from local residents who shared concerns about the borough’s dwindling retail sector.

Some described the high street shops as ‘dying on their feet’ - complaining that Gosport doesn’t need any more flats.

One comment read that towns will ‘all be housing soon’ as non-local supermarkets and shopping centres ' kill the town centres’.

Another resident stated that the borough needs more 'decent' shops 'to bring the people back to our town.'

Other comments were more supportive, stating that high street shopping as it's remembered is ‘dead and buried’.

‘Turn the old high street into housing and get more places like Katie’s into the units.

‘The high street could be a great place to go to eat, drink etc.’

The applicant, Daryn Brewer, submitted the application on March 1 and will be decided at the planning committee by May 6.