A billionaire family have revealed plans to create 181 new flats off High Wycombe’s London Road.

The Pears, who are said to be worth £3.419bn, are among those behind plans to convert five office blocks on Kingsmead Business Park, Loudwater, into ‘self-contained’ apartments.

The family – who run the William Pears Group – were ranked 53rd on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.

Mark Pears – along with his younger brothers Sir Trevor and David – were listed as directors of PJK Mead Ltd, the company set up in March of this year to handle the development of the business park.

Andris Jansons was also listed as a director of the firm, which submitted its plans for the new flats to Buckinghamshire Council last week.

PJK Mead is asking the council whether it needs the authority’s approval to convert some 16,010 sqm of office space into flats.

READ MORE: Wycombe Rye’s Boathouse Café sees slump in trade after dog death

The applicant plans to create different numbers of new homes in each of the five ‘courts’ at the business park and has submitted a separate application for each of them.

Proposals include 26 apartments at Hampden Court, 45 at Buckingham, 53 at Windsor, 34 at Oakley and 23 at Aston.

A transport statement submitted as part of the five applications says the business park currently has 613 parking spaces.

However, the applicant is proposing a total of 372 spaces plus one cycling space per flat across the whole site.

Council parking guidelines state that there must be ‘two spaces per dwelling’ for two and three-bedroom homes, plus one cycle space.

The applicant claimed that transport surveys showed that there would be a ‘decrease in trips across the vast majority of modes of transport in the peak time periods’.

The transport statement read: “The cumulative impact of all five change of use applications at Kingsmead Business Park would have a positive impact on the local highway network and would not result in severe residual impact on the surrounding local highway network.”

Documents submitted as part of the applications state that whole floors of some of the buildings at the business park are vacant, with some out of use for a long time.

For example, at Buckingham Court, Stantec UK Ltd is said to only occupy the ground floor and part of the first floor, with the remaining part of the building currently unused.

Meanwhile, at Windsor Court, the ground floor is currently occupied Red Kite Community Housing Ltd, and the first floor by VWS (UK) Ltd, with the second floor vacant.

📢 "Why wait for news? With Bucks Free Press get real-time updates directly on our ad-free app. Subscribe for unlimited access to our digital edition and enjoy 80% fewer ads on our website. Click here to find out more about how to get your news, your way, every day. #UnlimitedNews #AdLightExperience" 📢