FRESH plans have been unveiled to demolish a disused Halstead church.

Parkfields Baptist Church, in White Horse Avenue, could make way for new houses if developers get the green light.

The church is currently empty and has seen multiple attempts over the years by developers to build houses on the site.

The latest application has been submitted to Braintree Council.

It seeks to demolish the church to make way for two pairs of semi-detached houses.

The plot of land is on the corner of White Horse Avenue and Conies Road and consists of the church building, as well as a car park and surrounding low wall.

The planning application says the church is redundant and the building has “no particular architectural merit”.

A previous application to develop the site was rejected by Braintree Council’s planning committee back at the start of April.

That planning decision notice said: “The proposed development, by virtue of the number of units, the proposed layout and design would result in overdevelopment of the site appearing contrived and incongruous, at odds with and of harm to the established character and appearance of the street scenes of both White Horse Avenue and Conies Road.

“The adverse impacts of granting planning permission would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the framework taken as a whole.”

However, the new applicants believe their plans have addressed the issues raise by council planners.

The plans are set to go before the Halstead Town Council during its meeting on Monday.

The town council cannot rule on the proposal, but can make a recommendation which will be taken into account by Braintree Council’s planning committee when it makes the decision on the plans.