FRESH plans have been submitted for Clacton’s purpose-built hospice day centre to be converted into flats.

Permission was granted to bulldoze the St Helena Hospice’s Tendring day centre, in Jackson Road, and replace it with 40 flats and a restaurant or shop in 2019.

But London-based Abbeylord Properties has now applied to Tendring Council for change of use to convert the day centre into 18 flats.

Mark Jarman-Howe, chief executive of St Helena Hospice, said the sale of the building has raised £1.2million for the charity to continue its work.

He added: “We delayed the sale due to the uncertainty over the pandemic, but are pleased to have got the best value we can for the charity - and slightly better than expected.

“The building was too big for our purposes and we were only using 40 per cent of it.

“We tried to work with other community groups to see if we could share it, but we were unable to find sufficient partners to cover the costs.

“But there are other ways to support local people other than paying for a building.

“We are going into people’s homes to support them there and are working with other local community organisations."