Anger over college plan

Cambridge residents are angry over a college's plans to convert an historic building in the city centre into student accommodation.

The Malting House, which is on The Backs, was designed during the Arts and Crafts movement.

It could be transformed into rooms for students at Darwin, the university's post-graduate college.

The college paid more than £1m for the building.

Local people believe the plans are being rushed through too quickly and do not take account of the local environment.

Perfect example

Lucy Adrian, who lives by the college, said the building was designed by one of the leading architectural practices of the movement.

The Twentieth Century Society has also expressed dismay, saying the building was a perfect example of Arts and Crafts design.

The college has denied that the conversion would detrimental to the city's heritage.

Professor William Brown, the Master at Darwin, said the renovation would actually help to conserve the building.

The Arts and Crafts movement of the last half of the 19th Century was a reaction to the uniformity of Victorian mass produced goods.