Derbyshire church could be converted into flats

The plans, submitted by PES Fund to Erewash Borough Council, could see the former Ilkeston Methodist Church on the corner of Nottingham Road and Little Hallam Lane converted into 10 flats.

With the church having been vacated in August last year, the venue has lain dormant and now a developer is looking to give it a new lease of life. If approved, the two-storey former place of worship could become eight one-bed flats and two two-bed flats.

While the application form details that there would be 12 parking spaces, documents contained within the application say there would not be any spots provided.

It details: “Whilst there is no on-site car parking spaces, we feel this is justified with the intended end user and highly sustainable location that the site is situated. ” A decision will be made by the borough council in the next few months.

The church sits in a busy intersection opposite Roberts Street and just down from both Little Hallam Lane and an Asda petrol station. Plans submitted to the council say the building was largely constructed in the 1880s and then extended in the 1950s.

The only part of the structure that would be demolished is the “link” section between those two buildings, which currently forms the main entrance. This would be replaced with a new external staircase to provide access to most of the first-floor flats. The one-bed flats range from 37.3 square metres in floor space to 49.3 square metres.

A document from the applicant details: “Careful consideration has taken place in the sizes of the apartments, to conform to the National Space Standards, and provide a succinct and spacious design to the internal spaces of the apartments.

“All one-bedroom apartments are provided with shower rooms, accessed from internal lobbies within the flats, where 2 bedroom apartments are provided with slightly larger bathrooms.

“Open plan kitchen / living and dining spaces are provided throughout, which provides a great space for families to enjoy, entertaining and are multifunctional spaces.”

Four of the one-bed apartments would have slightly more space to provide a study area or home working. The applicant details: “The proposed scheme will meet the needs of the local area in supplying a diverse mix of new housing. The current site has no car parking, part of Little Hallam Lane has car parking restrictions from Mon-Sat, 8am-6pm.

“Careful consideration of the accommodation for redevelopment is required, along with the use of the integrated cycle storage and utilisation of public transport, due to its close proximity to Ilkeston town centre.

“The proposals have been mindful of the current appearance, scale, massing, siting and layout of the surrounding buildings to propose a scheme that is sensitive to the area and in keeping with the character of Nottingham Road, whilst providing much-needed accommodation for one-bedroom apartments.”

Earlier this month plans were also submitted to convert another Ilkeston church, the Church of the Nazarene, in Corporation Road into a martial arts dojo.