An old village church is set to be turned into a modern home as developers say they will ‘preserve and invigorate’ the empty building.

Plans have been approved by East Cambridgeshire District Council to convert the former St Andrew’s Church, in North Street, Burwell into a home.

The church closed back in the 1980s with the building then being used as an office until around five years ago.

Permission was given back in 2019 for the building to be turned into a home, but it was not converted at that time.

Now the developer, Phoenix Property Development Group Ltd, has put forward detailed plans for what the old church would look like as a home.

The inside of the building is due to be split into two floors with an open plan living area on the first floor and a number of individual rooms on the ground floor.

The developer said: “[These plans] will invigorate the building and ensure its ongoing preservation by creating a high-quality dwelling in the village.”

Planning officers at the district council agreed that the plans put forward by the developer would be a good way to bring the building back into use and to preserve it for the future.

Officers said: “The building has now sat vacant for five years. It is considered that although granted change of use to offices in 1990, this is not a typical employment site, given its former use as a church and location in a largely residential area.

“Furthermore, while it did operate as a church and then an office for a number of years, it sits on a relatively small plot, which does not give much scope for off street parking.

“The building is considered to be a heritage asset and has been nominated for inclusion on the Cambridge Local Heritage List Project.

“The building is not going to be used as a church and there appears there is no interest in the building being used commercially.

“In addition, prior approval has previously been granted for a change of use to residential.

“The current application would allow the building to be in use again, thus helping to prevent deterioration of the building over time if it sits empty and would be a less intensive use in a residential area than either of the former uses.”