A HISTORIC building in Bridgwater could be demolished and new flats put in its place, it was revealed this week.

Sedgemoor District Council has been working with Quattro Design Architects on the plans for Penlea House, which is located off Rhode Lane.

Penlea House is a large detached villa-style country residence.

In its time is has served as the main house on a country estate, offices, and stores - and more recently as six large flats owned by Sedgemoor District Council.

However the council states: "Due to form of construction, size, heating and maintenance costs, the building in its current guise has become economically unsustainable."

Now the council is proposing a two-phase plan for the site.

Firstly, a new block of seven flats will be built on a separate part of the site consisting of one and two bedroom flats, which will 'meet the requirements of the current Penlea House residents'.

This will then allow for the demolition of the existing Penlea House.

Following the demolition, the plan is then for two more new buildings to be created - one of which will be built on the Penlea House site.

The two buildings will provide 29 new flats, which combined with the new Phase 1 building means there will be a total of 36 flats on the site.

The application states: "The aim is to provide higher quality sustainable accommodation to the current residents while allowing for further development to the site in order to provide more high quality homes to the area and utilising an under used site.

"The proposed building is aimed to be more accessible and able to cater more suitably to the needs of the sites current tenants than their current residences in Penlea House."

The developers say the site will have no visual impact on the surrounding area because the site is screened off and hidden behind the surrounding houses.

There will be a total of 54 car parking spaces should the scheme go ahead.

The transport assessment concludes that the development can be accommodated on the existing roads, with 'no prospect of a severe impact'.

To view the full application visit the planning section of Sedgemoor District Council's website and search for the application: 08/18/00153.