Plans to turn a house in the centre of Marlow into a Bed and Breakfast – believed to have been submitted by Tom Kerridge’s wife – have been branded “total nonsense” by the Marlow Society amid fears of housing pressures on the area because of the Local Plan.

A three-bedroom house in Institute Road will be turned into a guest house after plans submitted by someone named as “Mrs Kerridge” were given the green light by Wycombe District Council on June 1.

Despite claims that the “nice” addition of a guest house would improve tourism in Marlow and give guests a chance to experience “what the town has to offer”, the Marlow Society has criticised the plans for taking a residential home out of domestic use against a backdrop of housing pressures on the council.

Wycombe District Council needs to find space for thousands of extra homes across the district as part of the Local Plan.

Martin Blunkell, chairman of the society, said: “We have Wycombe District Council fighting to hell to find land to put 12,000 houses on that the government is forcing them to build, and on the other hand, we have an application to take a house out of domestic use and turn it into a B&B, interestingly with no parking space. It is total nonsense.”

In a formal objection to the plans, Mr Blunkell added that the application would “reduce housing stock purely for the commercial gain of a business” and blasted a lack of appropriate parking provision.

He said: “WDC should not exacerbate a problem that it is trying to solve.

“The design and access statement offers no on-site parking. Again, the fundamental problem of a lack of parking spaces that lies at the door of the WDC would be increased by the additional parking requirement generated by this proposed change.

“To say that "there is also local car parking facilities around the corner from the street if visitors are planning to drive..." is manifest nonsense.

“As this property would, if changed, become in effect a building in multiple occupancy surely a dedicated parking provision must be required.”

At a meeting of the Marlow and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce, Paul Deriaz, who updates members on planning issues, said there are “pressures” to keep the town centre thriving.

He said: “The government are seeing the need to make town centres economically vital and keep people in the centres at all times. There is a period of time where the town centre dies at night and obviously they want to get people living and working and enjoying leisure time within the town centre.

“There are issues and pressures that come with that. If there are a lot of restaurants and pubs with extended opening hours and you are wishing people to live in these tight locations, there is going to be some pressure.”

A representative for Tom Kerridge has been contacted.