A COMPANY boss who was refused permission to turn a former office block into accommodation has hit out at the people of Kearsley.

Paul T Lajszczak is the director of Atlas House Project Ltd, which submitted plans to turn Atlas House, in Manchester Road, into an eight-bedroom house of multiple occupancy (HMO).

The plans were rejected in December, 2018, with insufficient information about storage for refuse bins, problems with neighbouring businesses and a problem with one of the bedrooms among the reasons given.

Residents and local councillors have since raised concerns that construction work still appears to be taking place on site.

Mr Lajszczak said: “To be perfectly honest, I’m sick of the Atlas House Project and the community of Kearsley.

“We were accused of doing an HMO for ex-convicts and asylum seekers ­— which is not true.

“At a meeting with the community in December, 2018, I was attacked by a crowd of people, verbally using offensive and hate words.”

Mr Lajszcak said it is no longer his intention to turn the property into an HMO and it will instead be a seven-bedroom family home, which will be used as Airbnb-style accommodation.

He added: “Guests will stay in property for short time from one day up to several weeks and it will be open to the general public.

“We will give the property a nice new front to make general appearance of the property look great.

“We are a serious, award-winning developer who has won several awards and made many great projects in London and Manchester, which greatly benefit the community and economy.”

According to planning documents, the first floor of the building is already residential accommodation, while the ground floor is office space.

There is a loophole in place which means converting a family home into an HMO does not require planning permission.

According to floor plans submitted with the initial planning application, the bottom floor of the building is office space, so permission for change of use would still be required to convert that into residential accommodation.

Mr Lajszack insists that the property is already completely residential.

Bolton Council confirmed they are investigating the status of the building.