The dilapidated site of a former Kent hospital could be turned into a housing estate under new plans.

Esquire Developments has submitted proposal to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council to redevelop the disused medical facility.

It is seeking permission to flatten the former Benenden Hospital, near Cranbrook, and build an 87-home estate.

The “site and the surrounding area includes a number of buildings that have historically been part of the Benenden Hospital”, planning documents say.

“In 2017 the redeveloped Benenden Hospital was opened to the public and as a result the buildings within the application site are no longer used as part of the hospital, redundant and lie in a poor state of disrepair,” they add.

The private Benenden Hospital is near the planned development site, both of which are just off Goddard’s Green Road, about two-and-a-half miles from Benenden village.

Now standing empty, the original hospital was opened in 1907, with new wings built in 1937 and 1953.

When planning permission was given for the new Benenden Hospital in 2013, the permission included plans to build 24 homes, but they have not been constructed.

The developers write that the project would provide “much needed homes including affordable housing for local people in a borough that is currently unable to meet its housing requirements”.

Of the 87 which Esquire plans to build, 26 would be affordable – of which six would have one bedroom, 13 with two bedrooms, six with three and one with four.

On the rest of the development, there would be 19 three-bedroom properties, 35 four-bedroom and seven with five bedrooms.

Esquire argues it will “provide a high-quality scheme of an appropriate scale and nature to the existing environment”.

It will bring “significant visual enhancement by demolishing the former hospital buildings and creating an attractive and vibrant place to live”, it adds.

The estate would include a new car park and play parks for children.

It is not yet known when the council will decide on the application.