A PLAN to build a new Baptist church, community centre and 47 new homes along one of the busiest roads into Evesham has been submitted to the council.

Evesham Baptist Church wants to build a new 200-seat Baptist church on land off Offenham Road in Evesham as well as a community centre equipped with a hall, function rooms and a creche.

A separate plan submitted by Bromford Group but in conjunction with the plan for the new Baptist church looks for permission to build 47 homes.

Part of the land where the new homes would be built has been used as storage space for construction companies building other homes in the area and would sit opposite a proposed 65-bed care home.

The current entrance would be converted into a property junction to connect the new homes with Offenham Road.

The new church and community centre and 50-space car park would be built on the other half of the land nearer to the roundabout.

A new zebra crossing would also be installed connecting the church with the new homes on the other side of Offenham Road.

The 50-space car park would be partly tarmacked and partly covered with ‘grasscrete’ – a type of concrete which has grass growing through it rather than standard tarmac.

The church does not expect visitors and worshippers to have a bad impact on traffic in Offenham Road as it would be used outside of peak rush hour times and whilst the new church holds 200 people, it expects to families and groups of visitors to travel in one car.

The expected traffic generated by the community centre has not yet been fully calculated but because of the size of the building the church does not expect the extra traffic to cause problems.

The land is earmarked for housing in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) and a plan to build a new Baptist church was agreed in principle in 2009 and permission was renewed in 2012.

An electricity substation and a pumping station for drainage would also be built to minimise the impact on the existing homes.

Council planners refused an application by developer Redrow to remove a number a number of "necessary" highways conditions in the planning permission for 70 homes on land to the west of Offenham Road. Redrow was instructed by the council to carry out the alterations to the junction had to be carried out if it wanted to build the homes to make sure it was safe.

The county council's highways department has maintained the work to the junction which provides access to the homes from Offenham Road were "essential" to ensure it was safe and Redrow still needs to carry out the work.

Both plans can be viewed via the planning section of Wychavon District Council's website.

Consultation ends on August 14.

The application numbers are 19/01541/FUL and 19/01508/FUL.