A proposal has emerged to demolish a town centre office and workshop and replace it with four flats.

Marpaul Holdings Ltd has owned 18-21 Foster Street in Maidstone since 2019, but the property has been vacant for the last four years.

It is now said to be decrepit and unusable.

The company has applied for outline planning permission to demolish the two-storey building and start again with a three-storey block to provide four equal-sized two-bedroom flats.

The existing building takes up the whole of the plot, but Marpaul proposes a communal garden to the rear of the flats.

Previously, permission was granted in January 2020 to allow a new three-storey block to provide eight flats, under planning reference 19/502580, but that was never built.

Marpaul says the new plan will allow the flats to exceed the minimum space standards and will provide good quality housing within a sustainable location, while also providing off-road parking for each property, with electric charging points.

The property sits within a row of bay-windowed, two-storey terrace housing in Foster Street, although there is a small commercial unit immediately adjacent to the west.

No details of the interior layout of the flats have yet been provided.

For details of planning applications that may affect you, visit the Public Notice Portal.

You can find out more on the Maidstone council website under application number 25/501668.