A former car showroom will be paved over to make way for a new three-storey block of flats.

Plans to absorb the site in Craylands Lane, Swanscombe, and turn it into more housing were reluctantly given the green light by councillors last week.

The former used car dealership, previously occupied by SWCS, has been taken on by developers and currently sits between the town's leisure centre and heritage hall, close to the entrance to the historic Swanscombe Skull site.

Plans were originally submitted to turn the brownfield site into seven separate apartments but this was later scaled back to five two-bed flats after access concerns were flagged by the planning authority.

The blocks will be split across two buildings with ground floor access linking the two.

Each flat will have its own allocated car parking space and cycle storage provision, with some added capacity for visitors.

It is not known if any of the apartments will be made available as affordable housing.

The planning bid was discussed at Dartford council's joint transportation board meeting on Thursday where councillors heard objections submitted from Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council.

Leader of Swanscombe and Greenhithe Resident's Association Sue Butterfill said: "I know we have a duty of care to provide housing and of course it is putting a real pressure on our infrastructure and we all know that.

"In Swanscombe unfortunately we seem to be building on every space there is available.

"This particular site is quite small and whilst it is going to provide five dwellings I'm not sure the road infrastructure can take it."

The town council's concerns were noted alongside 15 letters of objections to the scheme.

This included the proximity of the site to Craylands Primary School, associated highways safety issues and construction traffic already present by the existing Bellway development at the top of Craylands Lane.

However, planning officers had recommended approval of the site and no material reason for refusal could be found.

The planning officer's report said: "Overall I consider that the disbenefits of this scheme are minor and they are outweighed by the identified benefits of the proposal.

"The proposal therefore meets the requirement of the council's housing windfall and guidance, and the proposed scheme is therefore an acceptable windfall development."

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the development.

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