The Santander at 152 Fleet Road closed in June 2025. A noise report for its conversion into four homes went in on 10 August; comments run to 31 August.

The former Santander branch at 152 Fleet Road has moved a step closer to becoming four flats. A noise assessment intended to satisfy the last outstanding planning condition on the conversion was submitted to Hart District Council on Monday 10 August and validated the same day, under reference 26/01352/CON.

The building already has permission to change use. Hart’s planning register records prior approval 25/02487/GPDCOM for the change of use of the rear part of the ground floor to one dwelling, the first floor to two dwellings and the second floor to one dwelling: four homes in total. The register still lists the property under its old name, “Abbey Building Society, 152 Fleet Road”, a reminder of who occupied it before Santander absorbed Abbey. (Hart District Council planning register)

Because the change covers only the rear part of the ground floor plus the two upper floors, the street-facing section of the ground floor is not included in the change of use the register describes.

Timeline of 152 Fleet Road from the Santander branch closing on 30 June 2025 to the noise assessment consultation closing on 31 August 2026

From bank branch to housing

Santander closed the branch at 3pm on 30 June 2025. In its closure leaflet for the Fleet branch, the bank said 78% of the branch’s customers were already using its online, mobile or telephone banking, and noted that LINK, the cash access body, carries out an assessment when a branch closes. (Santander closure leaflet, PDF)

The permission uses Class MA, a national permitted development right that lets commercial buildings change to homes without a full planning application, provided the council approves specific matters first, one of which is the impact of noise from nearby commercial premises on future residents. That is the condition this month’s noise assessment is meant to discharge. (Class MA, Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development etc.) (England) (Amendment) Order 2021)

What it means for you

If you live or trade near 152 Fleet Road, the register lists a consultation period on the noise details running to Monday 31 August 2026, and the submitted documents can be read on the application page.

If you are watching the town centre change, this is one of the clearer signs of Fleet Road’s shift from counters to front doors: a bank that stood on the street for decades coming back into use as four homes rather than standing empty. We track applications across the district on our Fleet planning news page.

If you are curious what town-centre flats go for, our Fleet house prices page follows what homes in GU51 and GU52 actually sell for, using Land Registry figures.