Plans to turn a former Sri Lankan restaurant in High Wycombe into a one-bedroom flat have been refused because they would ‘fail to preserve the vibrancy’ of the town centre.

Developer Mehrdad Rahimian, on behalf of Scandia Care Ltd, applied for permission to turn the unit at 28 Castle Street in Wycombe – the former home of Taste of Ceylon Spice, a short-lived restaurant and takeaway that opened and closed last year – into a one-bedroom flat in the spring.

Mr Rahimian suggested that a ground-floor flat at the site, which already has residences on its upper floors, would be a good use of the space, requiring little external alteration and meeting space guidelines for a one-bedroom home.

He said Taste of Ceylon Spice, which was opened by Val Rajah in January 2023 to capitalise on the “wide and growing Sri Lankan and Indian community” across the county, had closed just months later despite its central spot in the town and its “primary shopping area”.

Planning documents commissioned by Mr Rahimian the central spot made it “a prime focus for development”, adding that the area “has a much wider role to play than simply being a location for retail facilities”, with “no commercial interest from third parties since the unit has been vacant”.

Adding: “There is an oversupply of retail/commercial units (on Castle Street) with numerous vacant units (and the plans would) provide a minor boost to the town centre by bringing a vacant unit into occupation.”

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It was the building’s central location that proved to be the downfall of the new application, however, with Buckinghamshire Council’s planning officers rejecting the plans yesterday, Monday, September 23, on the grounds that a flat wasn’t an “appropriate use” of the unit.

A previous application to change the restaurant to a flat was also refused in January of this year, similarly influenced by the council’s judgement that ground-floor accommodation on Castle Street would “fail to preserve the vitality, vibrancy and viability” of the town centre.

The most recent refusal also took into account concerns raised by Environmental Health that residents in the proposed flat would “not be protected from external noise and transportation sources” from “commercial developers, the street scene and Castle Street’s use as a major thoroughfare, both day and night”.

The plans didn’t put forward any major alterations to the former Sri Lankan spot except for a small terrace to its rear to give a flat occupier “external amenity space”, and the council had no objections on design grounds.