Plans to demolish a Norfolk police station to make way for housing have been lodged with Norwich City Council.

It was revealed in February that the Bowthorpe station on Wendene could be sold off and redeveloped as part of a major police review called Norfolk 2020.

An application has now been lodged, with a scheme proposed to demolish the station and an outbuilding and build a trio of two-storey houses in its place.

The application, which is seeking outline planning permission, proposes three houses be built on the site, one with two bedrooms, one with three and one with four.

It was submitted by Duncan Potter, Norfolk Constabulary's acting head of the joint estates department for Norfolk and Suffolk, who is responsible for overseeing such schemes.

The design and access statement for the plans says: 'The proposal seeks to demolish the existing buildings, replacing them with residential properties, but ensuring the new design is in keeping with the existing character and street scene to Wendene and the surrounding area.

'Following the Norfolk 2020 review, Bowthorpe Police Station is surplus to operational requirements. This has been enabled as police officers are now increasingly able to use mobile computing and they are less reliant on static bases to access police systems.'

The Norfolk 2020 review is a series of cost-cutting measures forced upon the police and launched in October 2017, with the purpose of saving £10m by 2020.

These measures included the removal of the police community support officer (PCSO) role, along with the closures of a number of other stations.

Stations in Acle, Caister, Tuckswood and North Lynn were included.

The application states the new homes would be accessed by the existing entrance off Wendene.

It says: 'A small-scale domestic use such as this proposal is likely to generate a lower amount of people travelling to the site than it currently does.

'This would amount to less disturbance and stress on the local highway.'

The bid will be decided by Norwich City Council in due course.