COUNCIL planners have given their approval to a flats conversion of a building in Newport’s main shopping street.

They said the seven proposed flats, above a phone repair shop and an empty retail unit, would offer an “adequate standard of living for future occupiers”.

The three upper floors of the building were once used as offices but will now be turned into residential accommodation.

The application was submitted by Kilinc Investment and Real Estate Ltd, a property company based on the outskirts of London.

Planning documents show the applicant’s vision is to provide flats “suitable for young people and professionals due to its location” and the development is “not for families”.

Those flats would be located above two retail units at the corner of Commercial Street and Friars Street, which are currently occupied by baby boutique business Ruby Lou's - which closed its shop and moved online last June - and a mobile phone repairs store.

Two one-bedroom flats and five two-bedroom flats have been proposed for the site, and a bike storage and bin facility will be built at the rear of the ground-floor shops.

Council officers and other organisations were generally positive about the plans.

Despite being in an “archaeologically sensitive area” of the city centre, the building, if converted, “will not have a detrimental impact”, experts at Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust said.

The conversion of upper floors to residential space is part of a wider trend in Newport, planning documents show.

Planners commented that “this part of the city centre is generally characterised by commercial units on the ground floor with an increasing use of residential accommodation on the upper floors”.

“It is considered that the proposed development would be compatible with this general pattern of development,” they added.