A plan to build homes on a former hospital site has been drawn up.
Housing quango Homes England wants to develop 46 homes at the old St Mary's Hospital in Melton.
The hospital building, in Thorpe Road, has been vacant for four years after the NHS closed it down.
Homes England wants to convert the 19th Century main block and its wings into four houses and four apartments while demolishing outer buildings and replacing them with 38 homes.
Melton Borough Council’s planning committee meets online on Thursday to decide whether to approve the scheme which Homes England says will help restore a building that has been falling into disrepair while providing much-needed new housing.
Planning officers are recommending the scheme be approved.
The hospital was built as the Melton Mowbray Union Workhouse and is recognised as one of the most architecturally and historically significant structures in the town.
Among the outer buildings set for demolition are vagrant cells which had been used as a mortuary by the NHS.
Objectors to the scheme say those buildings should be preserved and nearly 2,000 people signed petitions raising concerns about their loss.
The council and Homes England say preserving and restoring the cells would make the overall scheme financially unviable.
A plan to remove them and rebuild them to near the council’s Parkside headquarters has been looked at but ruled out as too expensive.
Now it has been suggested Homes England fund a full historical assessment and record of the cells before they are bulldozed.
There have also been requests for Homes England to contribute £571,000 to education provision in the area, £10,000 to GP facilities and £1,420 for library provision.
However the council says the developer contribution should be capped at £67,000 to make the scheme viable.
A Homes England spokesman said: “The scheme helps to bring a much-needed diverse range of housing to an otherwise derelict site.”
He acknowledged concern about the loss of the vagrant cells block but said it was difficult to justify its retention on the grounds of historic significance.
