Residents are calling on developers to "tastefully" convert a former care home into flats after new plans were put forward.

St Albans House in The Grove, Deal, closed in 2017 - not long after the Care Quality Commission said the site ‘requires improvement’.

Now applicant Amita Patel has submitted plans to Dover District Council (DDC) to convert the property into nine flats featuring a mix of one, two, and three bedrooms.

Neighbours KentOnline spoke to in the area this week were largely supportive of the development, which is set to include an allocated parking space for each of the flats.

The building is believed to have been constructed towards the end of the 19th century, and will be restored as part of the conversion plans.

But an unloved extension, which was a later addition to the site, will be demolished as part of the scheme.

Geoffrey Martin, who lives in The Grove, said: “The extension is an eyesore, but I’m glad to see the care home will not be demolished.

“I’m for the plans as long as they are done tastefully and they are not trying to ram as many properties as possible.

“My one concern would be parking, as more and more people use this road to park for the station."

Mr Martin's wife, Jill, added: “The Grove is a very popular residential area; we take great pride in that - it needs to be tasteful.

“It’s really important that real care and attention go into restoring as much of the building as possible.

Previous plans were submitted for the site in August 2022, but these were swiftly withdrawn after backlash from residents.

The old scheme proposed demolishing the existing care home and replacing it with two buildings for 11 flats and three semi-detached houses.

Neighbours were outraged by the proposal, and more than 70 objections were lodged on DDC's planning portal.

Commenting on the latest plans, architects working on behalf of Ms Patel say their scheme "meets all relevant planning policies".

"We originally took over the scheme from another architect," they said.

"Their plans were very ambitious which resulted in the application for a new build block of flats/houses being withdrawn to avoid it being refused.

"When we took over the plans we revisited the withdrawn scheme but quickly concluded a demolition and rebuild was simply not feasible from a planning point of view.

"Bearing that in mind we explored the option of a conversion as it would retain the existing building which we agree are very attractive.

"We prepared plans and arranged a pre-application meeting with Dover’s planners.

"The advice was very positive with regard to a conversion.

"The advice note issued after that meeting clearly set out all the relevant planning policies which the new application would need to meet.

"Our planners and architects then designed a scheme which met all the relevant planning policies and that application has now been submitted. We hope for a positive outcome."

A decision on the application will be made by planning officers at DDC.