Proposals to demolish an art deco-inspired 1930s department store in the West Country and replace it with a 92-home apartment building are being opposed by a range of heritage groups.

Architect AWW’s plans for the Taunton branch of Debenhams were drawn up for developer Ropemaker Properties and would deliver ground-floor commercial space in addition to the new town-centre flats.

However campaign group the Twentieth Century Society argues that the building – built in 1938 and expanded in the 1960s in a way that complemented the original structure – should be retained and converted to deliver new homes instead.

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