Plans for a new office block on the site of a restaurant car park were approved despite doubts over its potentially “brutal” design.

Harrow Council’s planning committee granted permission for a three-storey building – two levels of workspace and one of covered parking – by Bombay Central, in High Road, Harrow, on Wednesday (June 9).

This was despite strong opposition from the committee’s Conservative councillors, who criticised the drawings presented in the application, which they said prevented them from making a fair decision.

Cllr Marilyn Ashton (Stanmore Park), Harrow Conservatives’ spokesman on planning, said: “We’ve been offered poor drawings. We wanted to defer it so we could get a better idea of what this will actually look like in the street scene.

“I’m not suggesting this is a very big building but, from these drawings, it looks quite brutal, and it isn’t attractive.

“I’m not in a position to say whether it’s acceptable or not because I don’t have enough information to determine it.”

She appealed to council officers to provide the best mock-ups available as she would feel more “comfortable” making a decision in that situation.

“I asked for decent drawings [at the planning briefing] of what this is going to look like – it’s very simple. I didn’t ask for a Picasso or a Da Vinci, I just asked for decent drawings,” Cllr Ashton said.

She was supported by Cllr Anjana Patel (Con, Belmont), who described the application put forward to councillors as “sad”.

“I don’t know what this is or what it’s going to look like – I’m not comfortable with the way it’s been presented to us,” she said.

Council officers acknowledged the design of the building was “more contemporary” than neighbouring sites and noted it would, as with all proposals, attract differing opinions.

However, they explained in planning terms it was deemed acceptable and would not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding area.

The three Conservative representatives on the planning committee chose to abstain on the application but it was passed following backing from the remaining four members.