Plans have been submitted to demolish a derelict block in Erith to make way for new social housing and a dental clinic.

Orbit Homes South lodged the application for the units at 47 and 49 Northend Road to Bexley Council shortly before the New Year.

In their planning documents, the firm states their intention to demolish the current block, which consists of four run-down and unused retail units and four similarly vacant maisonettes.

In their place nine affordable apartments would be built, alongside one business unit, in a development spreading across two, three and five storey levels.

According to Orbit Homes’ planning statement, the current building is in a “very poor state of repair and is an eyesore on the streetscene,” as well as “creating a place for anti social behaviour”.

A planning application lodged with the council states the developer’s intention to provide the nine units at London Affordable Rent rates – the cheapest of the three tiers of London Living Rent, specifically targeted at low-income earners.

The proposed mix includes one one-bed unit, seven with two-beds, and one with three.

It’s not the first bid to breathe new life into the block which has been completely vacant for a number of years.

A previously refused application for the address proposed 12 residential units with flats at ground level, removing all commercial space from the site.

That loss of retail was deemed too great by the council, who rejected the proposal on those grounds.

However, the rejigged scheme now includes a commercial unit, which the applicants have proposed be filled with a dental clinic, with initial research into the area suggesting the surrounding community requires and would benefit from one.

A dental clinic at the site would provide three full-time and two-part time jobs, according to Orbit Homes.

It’s not their only development in the area – with the firm recently completing the second phase of the Erith Park development on the opposite side of Northend Road.