A firm based in a former Victorian water pump house is to add an extra floor to the building.

Electronics company Chord Electronics has been given permission to expand the two-storey former pump house in East Farleigh, that was converted to its present use in 1990.

Although the building itself is not listed, it falls within the area of the adjacent Grade II building known as The Works, that once formed part of the same water pumping complex and which was designed in a neo-Egyptian style by the famed Victorian engineer James Pilbrow.

Chord Electronics occupies both sites and has already gained permission for an expansion at The Works. Permission was granted in September 2021 for the addition of a roof extension, plus alterations to various windows and the addition of staircases. That work is currently underway.

Both buildings are close to East Farleigh Bridge, a Grade I scheduled monument, and fall within views from the listed Bridge House and St Mary's Church on the opposite side of the river.

The addition of the extra floor at the pump house was opposed by the 35 residents of the nearby Empress Riverside Park, and by several other closer neighbours, chiefly on the grounds of overshadowing and increased traffic.

Jason Stanton, who owns Riverside Park, said: “This road, just below the railway crossing on the right going towards the bridge, becomes very busy as the bridge is a single track and the build-up of traffic can be difficult.”

“Therefore access and egress from my park by residents can be difficult and this can also be hampered by delivery vans to Chord’s who often block the road and then come onto my land to turn around as this feeder road is also single track.

“If Chord Electronics are allowed to make their property larger, I foresee more traffic in this area, more congestion and indeed some health and safety issues being so close to the bridge and crossing.”

But Chord’s agents said the firm was not planning to take on any extra staff, nor did it expect any increased visitors. The existing number of parking spaces would remain unchanged at eight.

The setting was also said to be “sustainable” being only metres from East Farleigh Railways Station and from a foot and cycle path that leads along the riverbank into Maidstone town centre.

The local ward member, Cllr Fay Gooch (Ind), said she did not think her residents’ concerns about parking or overlooking had been addressed at all, but accepted that in terms of planning policy “our hands are tied.”

Cllr Peter Holmes (Con) said: “We hear lots of talk about taking traffic off the roads by having local businesses. This is a local business and I believe we should be supporting it to expand.”

The planning committee voted unanimously to grant planning permission.

Chord Electronics is a designer and manufacturer of high-end HiFi electronics. The company has operated from the site since 1989.

A change in planning law, brought in by the government in September 2020 in a bid to help solve the housing crisis, gives property owners the right to raise the height of single storey building by one floor, and of buildings of two storeys or more, by two storeys, without having to obtain planning permission.

Permission is only needed where there are exceptional circumstances such as the property’s being listed or in a Conservation Area.

Details of the pump house application can be found here.

Application number 23/501009 refers.

A few miles away, at Wateringbury, buy-to-let property mogul Fergus Wilson has also applied for planning permission to add two floors to three terraced properties on the corner of Wateringbury crossroads, within a Conservation Area.

His application has yet to be decided.