CONSULTATION is under way on proposals to use the site of a former girls’ school for 22 new homes as part of a £14 million redevelopment project.

Amberfield School – which at one time had almost 230 students – shut its doors 18 months ago after financial problems suddenly came to a head.

Now the Amberfield School Educational Trust, Knight Developments Ltd, and Michael Howard Homes have submitted a planning application to Suffolk Coastal council to use the school building and its 16-acre wooded grounds for 22 homes.

The project would involve converting the former Victorian workhouse into 12 apartments and houses, demolishing some of the modern extensions and buildings, and also constructing ten new homes on the site off The Street at Nacton.

The aim is to keep as many of the trees as posible as they are a key feature of the area.

Suffolk Coastal said public consultation was currently taking place and people and organisations had until May 9 to give their views on the proposals.

The aim was to make a final decision on the development by early July.

Development could also realise some sort of return for the many left out of pocket when the school collapsed.

The trust’s financial shortfall included a £1.3m debt to Barclays Bank, £200,000 outstanding to staff and £360,000 owed to other creditors.

The all-girl school’s former pupils included artist Maggi Hambling and Madeleine Gurdon, Baroness Lloyd Webber, and model Freya Holmes.