Plans to turn a former garage into flats have been scaled back after people warned the occupants would have to endure “prison-like” conditions.

An application lodged with the council in May sought permission to convert three-storey Intec House on Moxon Street, High Barnet into 107 “self-contained studio apartments”.

More than 100 people complained about the plans on the council's planning portal, with several comparing the flats to prison cells and warning the occupants would suffer from a lack of light and ventilation.

The flats appear to be narrower than the planned parking bays, and some opponents claimed they would be just 15 sq m in size – well below the national space standard for studio flats in new dwellings of 37 sq m.

Others warned of the potential impact on traffic, sewage systems and other infrastructure.

Intec House was formerly a Jaguar Land Rover servicing centre, which led some opponents to claim it should be classed as industrial rather than office use.

The developer has now lodged a new application to turn the site into 39 studio apartments.

But while the number of flats has been reduced, the size of the remaining units does not appear to have been increased.

Instead, the developer wants to keep the offices on the ground floor and create flats on the first and second floors.

Permitted development rights brought in by the Government in 2015 mean developers can avoid following minimum space guidelines by turning offices into flats without getting planning permission.

Extra powers known as Article 4 directions can allow councils to stop these conversions from going ahead, as they can be used to force developers to apply for planning permission.

Barnet Council could adopt the powers in September this year – but until then, it cannot stop schemes such as the one on Moxon Street from going ahead.

An office-to-flat conversion recently sparked opposition in neighbouring Enfield, with neighbours saying they felt powerless to stop people being crammed into small spaces.

The conversions also mean councils cannot tell developers to provide affordable homes, which they would be able to do via the normal planning process.

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