Plans are being drawn up to demolish former Barclays Bank building in March

A former bank that has been a town centre eyesore since it closed is set to be demolished – but only once plans have been approved.

Fenland District Council bought the redundant Barclays Bank in March Broad Street last spring for around £700,000.

The cash to buy the prominent building came from the £1.7million allocated as part of a £8million Future High Streets Funding (FHSF) from the government which was to have been spent on improving the Acre Road area of the town centre. However, that scheme fell through.

At the time of initial planning, the Barclays site was not for sale and therefore did not feature in Fenland Council’s original FHSF plans however it later went up for sale on the open market.

The site offered several benefits to the council including being located as an anchor in the heart of the new development in the town.

The building has been used as the site office for the contractor delivering the town centre works, which has considerably cut overheads to the project.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Being a disused bank, sites such as this one are often difficult for private sector developers to viably convert, and often constitute problem sites in towns across the UK when left vacant.

“The council was keen that this did not happen in March.”

Fenland is currently preparing a planning application to demolish the building including a statement of how it will “make good” the site once demolition has been carried out so as not to impose a gap site on the town centre.

This will be reviewed by Fenland’s planning committee ahead of a decision for approval.

The spokesperson said: “Once demolished, the intention is to take the site to market for sale, allowing a developer the opportunity to purchase and develop one of the most predominant pieces of land in the town, situated in the centre of the new Broad Street scheme, right next to the river.

“This approach should yield the best development on the site for March, as well as re-imbursing the council for the outlay on purchase and demolition. The proceeds of the sale can then be re-invested by the council into other projects.”