TOWN hall planners are set to throw a spanner in the works for a garage boss trying to redevelop his filling station in the centre of Christchurch.

Proprietor Bob Miles is hoping it will be third time lucky when his latest plans for the Priory Motor Works site come before the council's planning control committee this week.

But town hall officers are maintaining the objections which led to the refusal of two earlier bids to replace the filling station on the corner of Bridge Street with homes and offices.

Planning and housing chiefs say the outline scheme for 30 flats fronting Bridge Street and Stony Lane South does not provide enough social housing and will compromise a longer term revamp of that whole area including the adjoining curtain factory and gas depot.

And they are recommending councillors to reject the latest proposals which are identical to plans refused in January and currently subject to an appeal.

In his report being delivered to the committee meeting on Thursday the council's head of development services David Jobbins says the filling station - which will stop selling petrol in April next year - was an eyesore at a main entrance to the historic heart of the town.

But he warns that the site was part of a larger area earmarked for residential and recreational redevelopment in the council's emerging Town Centre Strategy planning blueprint.

He says: "The benefits of developing the site as proposed do not outweigh the fact that the proposals represent a departure from the Local Plan and may prejudice the comprehensive planning for the larger development site."

There are also concerns over the allocation of affordable housing among the mix of bedsit, studio and two-bedroom flats proposed.

Council housing officers object that most of the units earmarked as affordable are single-bedroom for which there is no demand.

First published: October 13