SUE SKINNER Councillors have postponed a verdict on controversial plans to build 20 homes near a historic quarter of King's Lynn.

SUE SKINNER

Councillors have postponed a verdict on controversial plans to build 20 homes near a historic quarter of King's Lynn.

Members of West Norfolk Council's development control board agreed they needed to see the site of the proposed scheme before deciding whether to give the go-ahead.

The properties would occupy a prominent position on a vacant and overgrown plot between Friars Walk and the River Nar, south of the Friars conservation area.

A combination of three and four-bedroome townhouses and five-bedroom semi-detached houses, they would be built in six blocks.

The development has been supported by planning officials, who had advised the board to grant permission.

But the council's conservation areas advisory panel says the plans are "unacceptable" and that architectural improvements are needed to reflect the surrounding area, especially the Friars, and in view of the longer-term plans for a marina and the River Nar navigation

project.

Similar concerns about the design have been voiced by Lynn's Civic Society, which maintains that the buildings are too bulky and tall and not in keeping with their setting.

Members are also unhappy about the adverse effect that traffic generated by the homes will have on the conservation area and the increase in congestion, particularly at opening and closing times at nearby Whitefriars School.

Fifteen other letters of objection have been received by the council.

Officials say the development would blend into the area, adding that the conservation area is separated from the site by the school and its grounds.

Councillors will visit the area tomorrow and make a decision at the next board meeting on July 3.