New riverside flats and offices will be built in Kingston town centre, after the plans were unanimously approved by the council.

A total of 34 flats in an apartment block up to five storeys tall will be built on Kingston High Street under the plans, along with offices on the ground floor.

Four empty office buildings on the site will be demolished to make way for the development, put forward by developer GM London, next to the River Thames. Kingston Council's planning committee unanimously approved the scheme on 9 July.

The building will have two affordable homes, offered under shared ownership, which does not meet council policy recommending 50 per cent of homes on developments with 10 or more homes should be affordable. A report by council officers, however, said an independent reviewer had found the scheme could not provide any more affordable homes.

The report added the existing offices have been empty for several years and are in 'poor condition'. The development will have two disabled parking bays, along with 74 cycle parking spaces.

A digital rendering of the planned development from Barge Walk on the opposite bank of the River Thames. (Photo: GM London/Architecture Initiative via Kingston Council)

Lib Dem councillor Olly Wehring said he could not find any grounds to refuse the application, but called for the developer to change the one-bed proposed shared ownership flat to another three-bed.

He said: "There are a lot of families dealing with overcrowding, certainly around my way in Norbiton, and we could really do with some more family units rather than one-bed shared ownerships."

A report submitted with the application said: "There is a significant need for new homes in the borough. The proposed development will deliver 34 new residential dwellings which would be a welcome addition to [Kingston's] housing supply and should be given significant weight in the planning balance.

"The proposals make a more efficient use of a highly accessible and sustainable brownfield site within Kingston. The scheme includes high-quality replacement employment space that will offset the existing poor quality accommodation that has been vacant for over six years."