A FORMER pump house could be brought up to date as part of plans for new housing on Green Belt land near Prescot.

The derelict pump house, in St Helens Road, would be converted into a four-bedroomed house with seven more homes built on land surrounding the building.

An application for the development has been submitted to St Helens Council, including a heritage statement identifying assets on the site as "the Pump House, a nearby stone cottage and the associated stone boundary walls and cast iron railings".

In design and access documents, the bidders state they would also bring the stone cottage back into use as a residence.

They say the redevelopment of a previously-developed site can be "achieved without a significant impact on the openness of the Green Belt" and add the scheme has the potential to give "great value to the character of this area" through transforming the appearance of the land and giving it an appropriate and sustainable use.

The development would involve alterations to the road system but a transport assessment concluded this would not be problematic.

To date, no objections to the proposal have been received.