Weymouth town councillors have voted to raise no objection to plans for 18 affordable flats on the site of St Nicholas Church, Buxton Road.

The move is a change from a previous vote on the scheme when they welcomed the development and said the building was in keeping with the area.

Almost 30 residents and the town’s Civic Society had since then written to object to the proposals.

Four councillors chose to abstain leading to a vote not to object to the proposals being carried 4-2.

Raising no objection to an application is seen in planning terms as a neutral stance.

Residents have written to Dorset Council to complain about the size and design of the building with concerns also raised about road safety and other issues, including the overlooking of a next door home.

Said Weymouth Civic Society: “We consider that the proposed development would result in excessive density and coverage of this limited site.

“The design would in our view be harmful to the character and appearance of the local setting in this part of the Connaught Road Conservation Area, and out of keeping with the architecture of the fine Victorian villas which characterise the area.”

One councillor, Trefor Morgan, described the design as being from the ‘brutalistic school of architecture’ although another said it was something you might see in the south of France.

Planning committee chairman Cllr Lucy Hamilton said this week that the town council’s views from January had not reached Dorset Council in their entirety.

Looking at the application again, which includes some minor changes, Cllr Jon Orrell told an online town planning committee meeting: “It is a conservation area and one wonders what the point of a conservation area is if you have a big block like that plonked in the middle of it because it doesn’t really fit with any of the surrounding buildings... It’s probably an over-development. It seems quite big for the plot.”

Mayor Graham Winter described the design as looking like an office block which, he said would, have an impacted on the conservation area.

Cllr Kevin Brookes said he was surprised the committee seemed to want to change its view from a discussion held in January: “I’m a bit surprised we are objecting to affordable housing,” he said, going on to second the motion not to object to the flats.

Planning committee chair Cllr Lucy Hamilton said councillors at the January meeting had welcomed the affordable housing and noted that the scale of the building was in keeping with the Bathstore (now closed) nearby.

She said the meeting had also noted concerns about highway safety including the proximity to a bus stop and pelican crossing, concerns about parking spaces and a suggestion that the building could be scaled back in size, but these remarks had not reached Dorset Council.

Proposing that the town council records no objections Cllr Hamilton said: “It is a massive change for the site, it blocks No16 in completely which is terrible for them. I welcome the modern design but its only made palatable by the trees.”

After the vote Cllr Hamilton said that there was strong local feeling about the application and suggested that councillors who were concerned could make their own comments online to Dorset Council.

The planning application asks for the demolition of the church building, replacing it with ‘affordable’ two-bed flats in a four-storey block. It has been submitted to Dorset Council by Bournemouth-based Hector Benjamin Ltd.

The application would increase the number of parking spaces on the site from 12 to 18, if approved.

St Nicholas' was opened in 1964 and part of the Church of England parish of Holy Trinity.

At the time it was closed Canon Andrew Gough of Holy Trinity with St Nicholas Parochial Church Council said that the church was quite cold and some of its facilities were often not used by the congregation, that the building was decaying and the church could not afford to keep it running. The congregation moved out in March last year.