FRESH plans to build more than a dozen new homes where an old pub once stood have been put forward.

Asif Naeem is once again asking for planning permission from Braintree Council to build 14 flats off Masefield Road, Braintree.

The applicant was given the green light for the scheme back in August 2014 after the old Rose and Crown pub was demolished.

However, the final conditions of the plans were rejected by planning officers in the summer of 2017 and nearly two years on, work has yet to begin on installing the new homes.

Mr Naeem has now submitted a new but similar application in order to get full approval, with the blueprints this time suggesting a proposed car park for residents will be built on ground level and not in a basement area, as was previously suggested.

Other tweaks have also been made to the scheme in a bid to address issues raised by residents living nearby.

A planning statement put together alongside the plans adds: "Likely neighbour concerns relating to the size, scale, siting and appearance of the building, the juxtaposition of windows etc.

have been re-assessed and taken into account in the design stage.

"Specific concerns such as privacy/overlooking, loss of outlook, overbearing/obtrusiveness have, in particular, been carefully considered in the site’s layout and the building’s design and planning.

"It is understood that the existing public house did result on occasion in a significant degree of noise and general disturbance, including late into the evening, which had effects on the wider residential area and that the loss of the public house would not be viewed as a retrograde step by residents but would instead offer an improvement to the living conditions of the community in general."

If approved, the plans would see 12 one-bedroom flats built along with a couple more two-bedroom properties.

The site has become derelict and overgrown since the Rose and Crown public house was torn down and sits near to several retail units, including a Co op.