Proposals for a development of flats and offices in a town centre have been rejected on the basis that designs for the project are out of fitting with the area.

Plans to demolish several buildings on Peel Street, Clitheroe, were submitted to the Ribble Valley Borough Council earlier this summer.

In those documents it was described how the three steel frame buildings currently located on the site would be knocked down to make way for a two-story office building and a three-story apartment block.

However planners have concluded that the build, which would have seen nine new apartments built in the town centre, would be detrimental to the local area and have rejected plans.

Clitheroe Town Council meanwhile had no direct objections to the proposal but both Highways and the Environment agency had concerns – including over the absence of an acceptable flood risk assessment.

In a decision notice published by the council, a document states: “It can only be concluded that the elevational language, scale and proposed roofscape of the proposed development would result in a form of development that would prove injurious to the character and visual amenities of the area and subsequently the setting of, and views into and out of the defined Clitheroe Conservation Area.”

“It is considered that the proposal would result in the introduction of an anomalous, discordant, incongruous, poorly designed and unsympathetic form of development that fails to respond positively to the inherent character of the area.”

Planners went on to argue that the proposal is considered to be contrary to the authority’s key and core strategy plans.

No objections were received from members of the public in relation to the plan.

Developers now have six weeks to appeal the decision.