New flats have been given the go-ahead in a conservation area in the middle of Gloucester.

The development, by Bath-based Gloucester NewBuild Ltd, has been granted permission by Gloucester City Council after more than a year in the planning process.

An estimated 100 documents accompany the application, most concerned with how the eventual addition to an existing building backing on to St Michael's Square will look, and how it will sit alongside the rest of the area.

As Cotswold Archaeology stated in its Heritage Statement document submitted as part of the application "The site lies within the St Michael's Square and Brunswick Road Character Area of the Eastgate and St Michael Conservation Area; whilst 19 & 21 Brunswick Road is a non-designated heritage asset, several Listed Buildings are located elsewhere on Brunswick Road."

The city's civic trust expressed its concern over the early designs: "Planning permission should be refused. The panel has no objection in principle to a building in this space, but this is not a suitable design.

"If planning permission is given there must be strict conditions on the investigation of the underlying Roman and medieval levels and the treatment of the mature copper beech, sycamore and other trees bordering the site. A modern building of the right proportions and heights might be better rather than a scheme which tries and fails to reflect 19th century styles."

There was also concern from residents of the square over the need to keep any building in-keeping with the architecture of the existing buildings.

According to Potter and Holmes, architects, research suggested the architect of the existing building, which fronts Brunswick Road, running North to South from the city centre's Eastgate Street, "was probably designed by Daniel Pidgeon (who was the architect of St Michael's Square in 1882)".

However, "no records were found regarding its commission. It seems to have been built as two properties since the 1888 census".

"The post-war planning file for the building reveals that it was converted from residential use to offices in 1962, used from 1963-1965 as storage for the City Museum, and subject to internal alterations in 1979 to provide offices for the City Architect Department. It benefitted from renovations in 1987 and was (re)-converted into flats in 2015," said the report.

Eight flats will be built on the site to create a "house of multiple occupation".

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