Plans to build thirteen new flats in Erith have been blocked by council officials over concerns that none of the proposed properties would be affordable.

In June 2018, a planning application was lodged with Bexley council which sought to convert a large family home in Bexley Road into a mixture of one and two bedroom apartments.

The plans looked at maintaining the fancy facade of the original structure while altering and extending other parts of the property in order to make it suitable for multiple occupancy.

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The building itself has been the subject of previous redevelopment plans in the past as similar proposals to revamp the property to create 17 new homes were also shot down in 2010.

Another previous application to convert the building into 14 apartments was lodged by the same developer who submitted the recent plans but was refused last year following an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

However, even though the developer has cut down on the number of flats they wish to build, councillors have again refused permission on the development on the grounds that it failed to provide any affordable housing which, according to the report, is an "identified need" within the borough.