Fresh plans for a multi-storey car park in Gerrards Cross have been submitted to the council.

Original proposals for the site in Station Road were thrown out last year after South Bucks District Council (SBDC) received a raft of complaints over the size and design of the building.

Now the council has developed a new set of drawings alongside developers Balfour Beatty, which propose to extend the car park by 4.5 floors with an additional 320 spaces.

More trees and patterned panels have been introduced in a bid to improve the car park’s appearance.

According to the plans the building has been designed to “minimise the impact” on neighbouring properties, while levels four and five have been stepped back on Station Road.

The application states: “In response to the brief, site constraints, setting and neighbouring properties, the building has been designed as a structurally independent building which is sympathetic to the general massing of the existing streetscape.

“The upper floors of the car park step back from the Station Road, therefore are not visible from the street.

“The perspective views and elevations demonstrate how the height and mass of the building sits comfortably in the streetscape.

“There are tall trees and a hedge line proposed between the back of the pavement and the car park frontage to further soften the appearance of the car park and improve the streetscape as a whole.”

The application also claims residents “acknowledge design improvements” at a public display of the new proposals in May.

The planning process for the car park has been long and controversial among some residents – who compared original designs to a cheese grater.

Earlier this month SBDC faced further criticism after it was revealed £780,000 had been spent on the car park plans, with one resident questioning why the money had not been ploughed in to the district’s deteriorating roads.

After the new plans came to light in May, Gerrards Cross resident, Keith Edwards, said the “slight design changes” to the proposals will not address concerns regarding the size of the building.

The plans on the SBDC website have so far received one letter of response from a resident who slammed the “overpowering development”, and added Station Road is “too narrow” for more traffic.

However the plans state the building should “respond and correlate” to the existing street scene, and the height is not expected to exceed the neighbouring buildings.

To view the application visit https://pa.chilternsouthbucks.org.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=P9WU7HESKB000