At last week's meeting, Camden Council voted 6-3 to approve the new development that will be built right next to Bakers Delight with a 1.6-metre pathway between it and the bank.

Crs Eva Campbell, Cindy Cagney and Fred Whiteman, who voted against it, acknowledged it was a better development than two previous proposals by the applicant, in 2002 and 2004, but said it was unsympathetic to the heritage-listed bank and the pathway between the two buildings was too narrow.

Wayne Collins, a consultant for the applicants Menuko Pty Ltd, said they had received advice from a heritage architect at Graham Brooks and Associates.

``His advice was that the building should stand alone and it should be of a form that, in his words, allows the new to be clearly new and the old to remain old,'' Mr Collins said. ``We believe this is a better approach [than past proposals] because it's a smaller building and it's clearly subservient to the heritage building.''

Camden Historical Society vice-president John Wrigley said the development would set a precedent.

``We cannot understand the present fashion for placing characterless, modernist, minimalist blocks next to a beautiful heritage building and claiming that it is sympathetic in form while maintaining modern principles,'' he said. ``We believe that this is an insensitive encroachment on one of Camden's finest buildings.''

He said the new building was ``a large glass cube'' and the lane was ``mean and greedy''.