Plans for a five-storey tower block off Lincoln High Street have been refused.
The scheme would have built 24 flats over the car park at the junction of Hungate and Corporation Street.
City of Lincoln Council said it would have been “unsympathetic” to the city centre location, towering over buildings on the High Street.
They also ruled it would have an “unacceptable impact” on local residents, whose windows would be overshadowed by the building.
The planning documents outlined plans for ground-floor parking, with the self-contained flats split evenly between one and two bedrooms.
“There is demand for these modest one and two-bed flats within this location; given how the city centre has undergone expansion and rejuvenation, the demand for them will increase further,” the application stated.
The plans were first submitted in 2022 by Mr Marsden, represented by Agrarian Ltd.
The council says that the agent submitted several revised applications in an attempt to address concerns about the size and design.
After two years in planning purgatory, the applicant was given a choice to withdraw the plans or risk refusal.
The council’s planning officers have now rejected the plans on seven different grounds.
It was claimed the building would not integrate into the historic city centre and would overshadow the properties of those already living nearby.
A report found that future occupants of the flats would also suffer from a lack of light due to neighbouring buildings being so close.
A resident of nearby Motherby Lane wrote in opposition: “The biggest nuisance will be the extra traffic the flats would create. Hungate is narrow and double-parked.
“There are two difficult junctions. One with West Parade has terrible vision on the left, exacerbated by parking on Corporation Street. This means that traffic stacks up in front of the entrance to the car park.”
Planners also said there was a lack of information about drainage, vehicle access, archaeological considerations, and energy plans for the site.
The plans were less ambitious than a previously proposed scheme for 156 student flats on the site, which was withdrawn in 2022.
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