Developers hoping to construct a student housing complex claim the building will benefit neighbours by blocking the view of a “monolithic” Aldi.

The proposed 27-bed project would be tucked behind the closed Coombs building in Wincheap, Canterbury, alongside the A28, with the nearby supermarket running parallel to an abandoned storage yard.

Architect for the project, CDP, says the student blocks will help shield nearby residents from the imposing building.

Planning documents lodged on behalf of developer Paul Roberts Canterbury, say: “The core principle of the design has been to provide a new attractive and vibrant urban courtyard which makes best use of the site and the attractive historic rear elevations of the listed buildings, whilst at the same time shielding those listed buildings and the new development from the large scale monolithic supermarket building and service yard to the north.”

They add that a “team of dedicated professionals who have worked in Canterbury for several decades” have spent months working on the plans.

The complex will be arranged in three connecting blocks, with some areas being two stories high, and others three.

All the rooms have their own kitchenettes and en suite bathrooms.

Buildings would be covered in white weatherboarding and built around a courtyard.

One of the new blocks would run alongside the supermarket, in St Andrews Close, to create screening and an “enhanced viewpoint”.

Documents say: “This 10-metre tall supermarket building dominates the outlook from the existing houses and the rear yard.

“We aim to provide an attractive, engaging and vibrant space for the new proposed use at the building while ensuring security and a comfortable environment for the future occupants.

“This is a brownfield site, currently vacant and underutilised.”

Cycle storage will be provided, but it would be a “car-free development”.

The planning application, lodged with Canterbury City Council (CCC), does not specify whether the complex will be used by students at The University of Kent or Canterbury Christ Church.

Building company Coombs, one of the city’s oldest firms, went into administration in 2020 after 50 years in the city.

Sixty employees were suddenly axed, and Coombs owed almost £3 million to 250 different companies.

Having struggled to turn a profit for the previous three years, the Wincheap firm had been searching for outside investment.

But the company went under after two deals fell through - leaving dozens of businesses it had been working with out of pocket.