Plans to convert vacant care home Westhorpe Hall, in The Street, near Stowmarket, into residential property submitted

A vacant care home could be transformed into a residential property.

Mid Suffolk District Council received the plans for Westhorpe Hall, in The Street, near Stowmarket, on Wednesday.

The Grade II-listed building became a care home in 1985, and had previously housed 21 residents, but it was closed and emptied three years ago for refurbishment.

Since then, various attempts have been made to reopen the care home, however, these were unsuccessful and the lease was surrendered on July 30 of last year.

The hall is currently under offer and the owners hope it will re-establish itself as a house with the change of use.

The existing layout will not change as the property is capable of being used as family home in its current form as it includes bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms and kitchens.

The planning statement said: “This application seeks to use existing form and layout of the property as a house.

“Allowing this change of use will provide an ongoing viable use, which will lead to future investment into the hall’s conservation.

“The property is in an inappropriate location for a care home, and the building itself has been unsympathetically adapted for this use.

“Its use as a house is more appropriate.”

The historic building is surrounded by fishponds and the moated site contains remains of a great house built in the 16th century by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and husband of Mary Tudor.

The original house became a ruin in the early 18th century before it was adapted to form a Georgian farmhouse, which is now the present-day hall.

The hall has been marked as a commercial premises, but no buyers have come forward, which is why a change of use is sought to allow the purchase of the hall to proceed.

The plans were submitted by a Thurston-based consultancy firm Evolution on behalf of the trustees of the Ella Barker Family Settlement.

A consultation will be held on March 3.