Tapas restaurant gutted by fire could be replaced by new apartment block

A tapas restaurant gutted by fire four years ago could be bulldozed and replaced with a new apartment block.

The plans would see the once popular Tapios eatery, near Bowlee, knocked down and a 14-flat development built in its place.

A similar proposal for the Heywood Old Road site was rejected by planners last year - partly on the grounds its ‘significant’ height and size was out-of-keeping with the character of the area.

Council officers said the initial plan would ‘result in a clumsy arrangement’ of building sections, was too high and featured a ‘particularly incongruous roof’.

Developer Gary Hyde Associates will hope this new scheme - designed  to ‘ensure it does not appear overpowering or dominant on the site’ - gets the thumbs up.

It features two fewer flats than the original proposal and has two and three-storey elements, while the first application was for a purely three-storey building.

A statement submitted in support of the application says the scheme has been carefully prepared to ‘produce a sensitive and contemporary residential development’.

It states: “The proposal will blend in with its immediate surroundings and make a positive impact - to - and enhance – the character of the area.

“The proposed scheme has been designed not only to be visually pleasing when looking from the outside as a passer-by, but also fulfilling for people living in the development for years to come.”

 

 

The document adds that ‘the frontage of the building appears to be in the form of a pair of semi-detached town houses’ which creates the impression of separate smaller buildings to onlookers.

All flats at the development will have two bedrooms and there will be 14 car parking spaces - one for each apartment.

Access to the building will be via a new road off Heywood Old Road ‘ensuring ease of access for both residents and visitors’.

A new footpath is also proposed in the interests of pedestrian safety.

It is understood that Tapios had closed down shortly before the devastating fire in 2016. It was previously the Jolly Butcher pub.

A decision on whether to grant planning permission will be made by Rochdale Council.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter