A new development dubbed a ‘mini One Hyde Park’ has been given planning permission in the heart of Westminster.

Rich foreigners are expected to snap up the properties, where a one-bed flat will start at £1.6m and be the epitome of good or bad taste – depending entirely on your own.

The scheme, by developer Galliard Homes, will cost £100m, and result in the conversion of the European Council for Foreign Relations buildings in Old Queen Street into 22 apartments.

When finished, the homes are expected to fetch new record prices for Westminster at £3,000-plus per sq ft.

All told, the purchasers will pay around £7m in Stamp Duty.

The building was originally a grand mansion whose residents were politicians and wealthy merchants. After the Second World War, the building became offices.

Galliard Homes bought the freehold and applied for planning permission to change the use back to residential.

* Separately, Ballymore developers are looking for a joint venture partner to help finance three huge schemes in London – Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms, two towers block of 50 and 55 storeys in Canary Wharf, and London City Island in nearby Leamouth.

Below: a planned interior at the Galliard scheme