PLANS have been lodged to convert a former university halls of residence on a main Chester road into residential housing.

De Bunsen Ltd, owners of De Bunsen Hall on Hough Green, is seeking to create a total of nine homes as part of the redevelopment.

Park Design Group Limited, which has lodged the planning application to Cheshire West and Chester Council on De Bunsen Ltd's behalf, says the proposal would be to demolish the annex building at the rear of the property, construct five mews houses, and change the main Victorian villa building from university halls into four residential dwellings.

In a planning statement by NSC Planning Limited, the applicants say the site is a former student hall of residence, with space allocated at the back for study rooms, which are unoccupied and provide no service for the area.

The applicants add: "The designs of the new build dwellings will be modern and spacious to support a growing number of families wishing to relocate near to the centre of Chester, whilst fitting in with the design of the surrounding dwellings and infrastructure."

A total of 22 car parking spaces would be created, while minimal changes would be made to the exterior of the main building. The "unattractive building to the rear" would be demolished.

Each dwelling would include "an open-plan design with living, kitchen and dining space along with bedrooms, one master bedroom suite and bathrooms as well as space for vehicle storage to the rear of the main property."

Victorian villa

Each property would also come with an electric vehicle charging point, plus bike and bin storage.

The applicants added the neighbouring property, the former Cavendish Hotel, was granted planning permission to be converted to eight apartments and the construction of three mews houses in 2003.

A heritage statement by Garry miller Heritage consultancy says the building dates back to about 1860, when the property was one of the largest Victorian Villas on Hough Green and was originally named Hough Green House.

In the years since its construction, it included a carriage drive to the front, a conservatory on the west side and a large rear landscaped garden with a central fountain with what was likely a coach house and stable with attached greenhouses. All these features disappeared in the following decades.

In more recent times, the property had been used as a youth hostel and student halls of residence.