A family home blighted by the proposed £178.5m Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR) looks set for a new lease of life - as the site office for the construction of the route.

In January, Norfolk County Council agreed a package of £450,000 to buy up the four-bedroom home in Plumstead Road, Thorpe End.

With 36 square metres of their front garden needed to enable the road to be built, the family living there had served a blight notice on the county council and councillors agreed to pay out.

The family, who lived there for 15 years, were philosophical about moving, saying they would not have wanted to move, but would not want to live next to the NDR.

The council has now applied to turn the home into a site office to use when construction on the 12.5 mile road, stretching from the A47 at Postwick to the A1067 Fakenham Road, gets under way.

Broadland District Council has been asked for permission for it to become a site office for senior staff from County Hall and contractors Balfour Beatty for three years.

Documents lodged with Broadland District Council state: 'This will allow the staff a local base in close proximity to the NDR, reducing the distance they have to travel to and from the site. It would also be a more appropriate use of the site during the construction of the NDR given the potential for noise and disturbance to the property.'

The house would revert to a home after 2018.

The county council recently revealed how the cost of the controversial road had increased by £30m. Next month, councillors set to discuss the possibility of contributing a further £15m towards it, so long as the government agrees to match that with a further £15m.