Long-anticipated plans to transform part of an old “mental asylum” into 200 homes have emerged.

Homes England has unveiled proposals to overhaul the now-empty Cranmer Ward wing at St Martin’s Hospital in Canterbury.

The government agency snapped up the 15-bed ward in Littlebourne Road for £6.32m in a high-profile deal with the NHS in 2019, stoking speculation over its future.

Now Homes England has set out its ambitions to turn the Victorian wing – where older patients with mental health conditions such as dementia were cared for – into a housing complex.

It says in official papers lodged with Canterbury City Council that many of the buildings “are becoming derelict” and the site will make “an important contribution” towards housing stock.

“The site is in a sustainable location to the east of Canterbury, close to public transport links and everyday services and facilities within Canterbury,” the documents say.

“Granting permission for this allocated site will make an important contribution to providing new homes in the area.”

Homes England forked out £6.2 million to buy the wing of the mental health facility, which included the Cranmer Ward, in 2019.

It had been deemed "no longer fit for purpose" by the Kent and Medway Partnership Trust.

The authority - which runs mental health provisions across the county - described the old buildings as being "truly remnant of the asylums of the early 1900s".

St Martin’s Hospital first opened in 1902 and continues to operate as a mental health facility – though inpatient services have massively decreased since the introduction of ‘care in the community’ in the early 1980s.

Known as the Canterbury City Mental Hospital in the 1920s, the NHS took over the property in 1948 – under the name St Martin’s.

At its peak, the old-school asylum would have looked after hundreds of so-called “lunatics”, carrying out outdated procedures such as lobotomies.

Canterbury City Council allocated the land for future residential use in its adopted Local Plan in 2017.

Fifteen acres of the St Martin's Hospital site are earmarked to be developed under Homes England’s proposals.

It had hoped to see a planning application go in during the summer of 2022 ahead of beginning demolition works in 2024, before delivering the homes across a four-year period.

Ranging from one- to four-beds, 140 of the 200 houses will be offered out for social or affordable rent, with the remainder falling under the affordable housing scheme.

And while many of the newer buildings will be torn down to make way for housing, the older southern hospital wings are expected to be saved – with bosses behind the project hoping to convert them.

If given the go-ahead, the new estate would sit directly opposite a 500-home development at the old Howe Barracks – resulting in hundreds more car journeys up and down one of the city's busiest roads.

But those behind the St Martin's plans are confident the new development will not give rise to traffic problems, suggesting the levels will be similar – if not less – to when the site was a hospital.

“The results of traffic modelling undertaken show that the net change in traffic as a result of the proposed development will not have a detrimental impact on the local road network junctions,” the papers continue.

“There is an overall net reduction in traffic from the proposed development.”