Plans to convert a former ambulance centre into homes have been refused for a second time.

A revised application was submitted to Swale council in September to transform Thompson Hall in St Michael's Road, Sittingbourne, into nine apartments after a previous application failed.

The 157 sq m property was first acquired by St John Ambulance in December 1959 and used as a training centre for volunteers for more than 62 years.

It was then sold for £160,000 to developers Ikon Construction Services Ltd in August 2022.

They wanted to replace the building with a block of two commercial units and nine flats, but this was rejected last year by Swale council.

Ikon then submitted a revised application, to demolish the building and replace it with nine flats over four storeys, losing the commercial element but adding storage for 10 bikes.

The homes would have included one two-bedroom and eight one-bedroom flats.

But that has now been refused too.

Ikon said the "vacant and dilapidated" property would be turned into "a high quality, new building" which would provide affordable housing, as well as present "a significant opportunity for redevelopment which will benefit the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area”.

Yet, when explaining their refusal for the development, a council report noted: "The existing building occupies a prominent position on St Michael's Road and forms part of the Sittingbourne Conservation Area.

"The siting, scale, height, design and appearance of the proposed building would fail to respect the historic townscape of which it would form a new part, and the wider street-scene.

"It would result in a significant adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area.

"The proposed ground floor flats, by reason of their proximity to the site boundaries and lack of defensive space between the building and public areas, would result in a poor standard of privacy and amenity to occupants."

The report also noted the application still did not include any financial contributions to mitigate the potential impacts of the development, which is within the Swale Special Protection Area (SPA).

Developers were told they would have to contribute £278.88 per property – a total of £2,482.92.

Designs for bin storage were also described as inadequate, which "would result in poor levels of service for future occupants of the flats, and would give rise to a likelihood that bins would be stored externally”.

Meanwhile, a decision on the building of three apartment blocks of 51 homes – also in St Michael’s Road – remains ongoing.

An application was submitted by Swale Rainbow Homes in July for a mix of one, two and three-bed properties, spread over one five-storey apartment block and two four-storey blocks in Cockleshell Walk Car Park.