A ROW has broken out after the council ordered that 'unauthorised' work to build eight flats in a former town centre shop must be reversed.

Work to bring eight one-bedroomed flats to the former Topshop and Topman store in Barrow town centre was carried out without permission, according to Westmorland and Furness Council.

The authority has served an enforcement notice on the developers, ordering them to reverse the works.

But the owners of the site have lodged an appeal against the notice with the Planning Inspectorate.

The proposal to build the flats on the first floor of the building in Portland Walk was previously rejected by planners after concerns they would be 'substandard', with nearby noise affecting residents and the apartments being of 'poor design' .

But the council said it found work on the building nearly completed during a visit earlier this year.

In an enforcement notice issued, the council said: "This notice is issued by the Council because it appears to them that there has been a breach of planning control.

"Council Officers attended the site on the above date and found that works were nearing completion with the creation of eight one bedroomed flats on the first floor of the building.

"It was found that the flats had been created broadly in line with the plans submitted for and refused under the planning application."

Ordering work to be undone within six months of the notice, the council said the developer must remove 'all internal works that have taken place in connection with the creation of the unauthorised eight flats and to return the internal layout of the first floor to its former retail layout'.

All waste created by the work must also be removed, it said.

The council warned that failure to comply with the notice could lead to prosecution or remedial action on the building being taken.

An appeal against the notice has been lodged and is ongoing, with the developer saying the plans should have been approved and the time to reverse the works is too tight.

Barrow's Topshop closed in 2020 after parents company Arcadia collapsed into administration.