A village may shortly lose its garage and MOT centre after plans were revealed to turn it into a four-bedroom house.

Proposals have been submitted to Maidstone council to redevelop the site of the Farleigh Forge Garage in East Farleigh.

The business, which has been operating since the 1960s, is on the site of the former village smithy.

It currently consists of two workshop buildings with a small office between them, and parking for customers’ vehicles on a front forecourt.

The suggested project would see the larger workshop and office demolished and replaced with a two-storey house with four bedrooms.

The smaller workshop would be converted into a two-bedroom bungalow. Both would be heated by air-source heat pumps powering under-floor heating, and each would have a small garden and parking for two cars.

One advantage for the village might be that the applicants intend to create a pedestrian footpath along the frontage – there isn’t one at present.

A possible difficulty for the applicants is that the site is adjacent to one Grade II-listed building, The Limes, and close to two others.

From a construction point of view, the developers will have to deal with the fact that beneath the front forecourt are two large fuel tanks – the garage also operated as a filling station until 1998 – only one of which has been filled in.

To see more planning applications and other public notices for your area, visit publicnoticeportal.uk

Details of the plans can be viewed on the Maidstone council website here.

Look for application 23/505157.