PLANS which could see a former police station become a nursery have been dealt a blow.

Witham Town councillors recommended that proposals for the Newland Street site be refused at a planning applications committee meeting on Monday night.

Clever Clogs Day Nursery, which has sites in Brentwood, Dunmow and Chelmsford, lodged an application to open in the building in March creating 14 jobs.

But members recommended refusal on the grounds that a potential extension is poorly designed and not in keeping with the building's character.

It already has 554sqm of floorspace, which is as big as two tennis courts, and the plans would see it completely remodelled with the extension adding a third to the useable space.

The building shut as a police station in 2016 and was placed on the market for £875,000 in November last year.

The planning committee at Braintree District Council will make the final decision on the application.