Developers thawed out a years old application with a proposal to demolish the former freezer centre in Station Road, March, and replace it with 34 flats and a ground floor shop.

An application to Fenland District Council planners puts forward proposals for a development that would include basement parking for 10 cars.

Brand Associates says the scheme is similar to that approved in 1995 but the new application vastly increases the number of homes planned.

“These proposals are for a sustainable development with on-site parking, retail unit with flats to enhance the use and vitality of the town centre,” says a design and access statement from Brand Associates.

“It will have the first underground car park in March.”

Brand argues that infilling will improve the look of the area and will tidy up a derelict brownfield site that has been left empty for many years.

The application shows correspondence with the council going back three years and since then it has been agreed the site can take “quite substantial development” but advised the size and scale needed to work alongside nearby Jim Hocking Court.

Brand says a viability assessment is being prepared to establish the level of affordable housing that can be provided without making the project financially unviable.

“These proposals will enhance the conservation area and town centre, bringing a long vacant site into good use with a design that respects and enhances the area,” says Brand.