Controversial plans for a new home alongside former Diss Conservative Club development - given green-light

Plans for a new home next to a former Conservative Club have been approved, despite fears it will be built too close to a neighbour’s house.

A bid to build a two-bed property in Denmark Street, overlooking Diss Mere, was given the green light by South Norfolk Council on Wednesday.

It will sit next to the former Conservative Club building, called Grasmere, which is in the process of being converted into five flats, following a previous application.

At a meeting to discuss the plans, a neighbour and the town council called for the scheme to be rejected.

Emma Bernard, whose home is adjacent to the site, said she would be forced to look out on “blank, grey walls” and claimed it would be built so close it could threaten the property’s foundations.

She insisted she was not against new homes, having supported the original five-property plan, but said the proposal would see the new house built 1.5 metres from her bedroom, branding it “development creep”.

Eric Taylor, planning chairman at Diss Town Council, said it was a development the town was “suffering more and more of”, with fears it would impact the view of the mere.

“It’s a development by stealth, where an uncontroversial application is put in and then bits are added on,” he said.

“There is no doubt that the town council would not have supported the original application had this been part of it.”

Chris Burnard, the developer, insisted the scheme would eventually benefit the town.

He said: “We are by no means trying to spoil that view; we have tried to keep that view to the mere, which is a great asset to Diss.

“I want to build a great building that is an asset to the town.”

The plans were approved, with five votes for and four against.