More than 70 flats will be built on a town centre car park and garage with nearby residents fearing it will lead to people looking into their bedrooms.

Plans to construct 51 apartments at Cockleshell Walk car park and 20 flats and a retail unit on Troka Tyres and Car Services in Sittingbourne have been approved.

There will be three blocks replacing the 65-spaced car park off of the one-way system in St Michael’s Road.

Meanwhile, the garage, on the A2, London Road, will be demolished and replaced with a single four-storey building.

There are also plans for a further 26 in a six-storey on the back of Laburnum Place between the car park and railway line as part of a separate application by developers Ikon.

Residents fear the four new blocks, one of which is five storeys at its tallest, will overlook their gardens and houses and “block out the sun”.

Chris Goodborn, who lives in Frederick Street which backs onto the development, previously said he is worried the flats will look into his daughter’s bedrooms and is weighing up moving out of his home.

The 47-year-old told KentOnline that he felt the decision made at Swale council’s planning committee last night (Thursday, May 23), was a formality.

“It was always going to happen as precedent had already been set,” he said.

“There’s not much you can do about it and I feel that councillors did not listen to the drawbacks of the plans.”

Meanwhile, Josh Coulter, who also lives in Frederick Street, has similar fears.

The 33-year-old builder said: “I am not happy about it as a block of flats five stories tall is too much.

“I have an 18-month-old and I’m worried I am going to have to keep my curtains shut and not go out in my garden as we are going to be overlooked.”

Kemsley residents Kay and Julian Batey, who work in the area, have mixed feelings about the development.

They work in a fostering agency, Xcel 2000 in Hawthrone Road which sits on the other side of the garage which is set to be demolished.

The 63 and 67-year-old use the car park around four times a month and are “sad to see it go” as it is used by their firm on large training days.

They said: “Housing is important and we do need to build more but the car park is well used.

“However, there’s the Spring Street car park just up the road so people can park there instead.”

Before the Cockellshell development was given the nod, planning permission was granted to knock down garage buildings along the A2 which are currently used by Troka Tyres.

It is understood the firm has 18 months left on its lease with its plans for the future still up in the air.

On the ground floor of the block, there will be a commercial unit while the other floors will be filled with a mix of one, two and three-bed apartments. There will a roof garden.

Access to the flats will be off of Hawthorn Road which sits next to the existing garage.

The Cockellshell development is part of Swale council’s town centre regeneration project, which includes building 170 affordable new homes on council-owned brownfield sites.

It has set up its own housing association, Rainbow Homes, to achieve this.

Some other parts of the scheme have already been completed including the nearby Light cinema complex, restaurants and a Travelodge.

Also completed in September 2019 was the multi-storey car park in Bourne Place to hold 317 cars, which is the reason Swale now feels it can do without the 65 parking spaces at the Cockleshell Walk car park.

The new development would have 28 residents’ parking spaces and each flat would have a cycle space.

Those parking spaces that are provided will each be fitted with an EV charging point and located in undercrofts to the buildings.

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There is no available on-street parking, as St Michael’s Road, which forms part of the A2, has double yellow lines at this point.

Laburnum Place residents Elaine and Leslie Brazier fear they will be unable to park because of the lack of spaces in the three schemes.

There are 13 parking spaces for Laburnum Place flats, 28 for the Cockellshell development and 17 for the flats on the garage.

Elaine, 58, who is a careworker and has lived in her home for 16 years, said: “I won’t be able to park when I get home from work.

“It is bad enough as it is around here at the moment without adding in more people.

“I am not happy as we are going to be enclosed by flats which will block out the sun and we will have to keep the curtains shut.”