Planning officers in Watford have recommended that councillors should refuse planning permission for a 25-storey octagonal tower block.
Developers want to demolish offices at 41-43 Clarendon Road and replace them with two new buildings, one with 12 storeys and one with 25 storeys, as well as a linked eight-storey building.
The tallest block would include flats on each floor, while the 12-storey building would have commercial space on the ground and first floors, with flats occupying the spaces above.
In total, the new buildings would provide 280 flats, including 56 studios, 88 one-bedroom, 68 two-bedroom and 68 three-bedroom.
Watford Borough Council’s development management committee will decide whether to grant or refuse planning permission at its meeting on Tuesday, June 2.
Documents submitted as part of the planning application say that the offices have been unsuccessfully marketed since 2021, describing them as “poor quality, unlettable and vacant”.
But planning officers concluded that the new blocks have been “poorly conceived” and that the quality of the new homes would be “unacceptable”.
They said approving the development would mean “a substantial loss of office floorspace in an area specifically designated for the growth of commercial floorspace”.
Officers also found the proposed buildings would be “visually overbearing”, and that “unacceptable” site access plans would have an “adverse impact to highway safety and convenience”.
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