A developer has lost the fight to turn a historic town centre building into a 13 room house share.

A planning inspector said the proposals to convert Wykeham House, in Market Hill, Huntingdon, would “harm” the Grade II Listed building.

They also said the proposed redevelopment would “fail to provide acceptable living conditions” for some of the people who ended up living there.

The application to convert the building, which was built back in the early 18th century, was put forward by Bentwood Investments Ltd.

The company said they had faced “difficulty” trying to rent out the offices in the building and it was now left sitting empty.

The developer said converting the listed building into a house in multiple occupation (HMO) would “preserve its special interest”.

However, Huntingdonshire District Council disagreed with this, claiming the proposals would harm the special interest of Wykeham House.

After the authority refused to give permission for the conversion, the developer appealed to the planning inspectorate to try and overturn the decision.

However, the planning inspector assessing the application sided with the district council and dismissed the appeal.

The planning inspector raised concerns about the plans themselves, highlighting that doors and corridors in the attic conversion were proposed in places where the roof pitch was so low it would make them unusable.

They also said there was “limited information” to show that the internal changes to create the new bedrooms and communal areas would not lead to a “further loss of historic fabric”.

The inspector said: “In the absence of substantive evidence to the contrary, I find that these internal works would erode the special interest of the listed building and have a harmful effect on its understanding and appreciation.

“It would not be appropriate to leave such matters to conditions.

“Given the above, the proposal would not preserve the listed building or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.

“In doing so it would harm the significance of this designated heritage asset.”

The planning inspector said the sloping of the roof pitch meant some of the rooms would be “very narrow” and create an “unacceptably restrictive feel to rooms”.

Because of this they said the development “would fail to provide acceptable living conditions for future occupiers”.