REVISED plans to bulldoze a former church and create a three-storey apartment block have been drawn up.

The Star reported last July when proposals for a block containing 24 apartments at the site of the former Emmanuel Church in Thatto Heath were withdrawn.

An amended application has now been submitted by businessman Andrew Mikhail for a block of 18 self-contained one-bedroom apartments at the Elephant Lane location.

The church building was built in the early 1960s and has latterly been home to the 'Conversion Community Project' in a partnership with Thatto Heath Crusaders Rugby League Club, until the club built a new club house facility.

Public objections to the original plans had included worries that the then proposed L-shaped block would be "too high and too large" for the area and would lead to "overcrowding".

The fresh plans would see six apartments on each floor, each with one bedroom, one bathroom and one room for a living, kitchen and dining area.

Central communal staircases would be situated between the ground and first floors and between the first and second.

The proposals state the proposed development will "provide a good example in the re-use of previously developed land" and "will contribute towards the borough housing stock without harming local residential amenity or highway safety".

Plans add that "care has been taken to ensure this development reflects its position in the locality, along with the existing residential arrangements to the front and sides".

Public consultation on plans is until Wednesday, May 16.