Former Telford shoe shop could become flats
A vacant Telford shoe shop dating back to the Victorian period could be converted to house four new flats, if plans are approved.
Fitzrovia Developments Ltd has applied to refit the former Preece footwear premises, on High Street, Dawley.
Blueprints submitted by the Hampshire-based developer show two bedsits in the existing rear workshop and two one-bedroom flats in what are now storerooms over and behind the showroom. The shop front would be retained.
Great Dawley Town Council will be consulted about the application, and Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning department will make its decision at a later date.
In application documents, Lightmoor-based planning agent Gareth Hickman, representing Fitzrovia, describes the 250-square-metre site as a “vacant but former shoe shop”, and adds that repairs were also carried out there.
Located at the west end of High Street, Preece, also known as Preece and Sons, traded for approximately 150 years before closing in the early 2010s. The shop premises are part of a three-address “local interest building”, designated by Telford & Wrekin Council.
These are not protected as strongly as English Heritage listed buildings and the designation only covers the external appearance, but the council will “take into account the historical or architectural interest of the building” along with other factors when considering a planning application.
Some of the store’s immediate neighbours on High Street and residents of Hartshorne Court, a sheltered accommodation complex which backs on to the shop, will be asked for their views during the consultation period which runs until July 2.
