MOUNTFIELD'S empty top floor could become a one-bedroom flat under plans submitted by Bridport Town Council.

The proposal would convert 90 square metres on the second floor of the historic building in Rax Lane from offices into a home.

The space, previously used by the town council, has been empty for months.

Plans describe a lounge, kitchen, one bedroom and a bathroom with a shower and toilet. No changes are proposed to the building's exterior or floor layout.

The accommodation has separate access through an outside metal staircase, plus an internal entrance behind a locked door. Both access arrangements would remain unchanged.

Comments on the proposal can be submitted to Dorset Council by November 27, via this link.

Mountfield's possible conversion would be another change for a building that has served as a private home, wartime accommodation, a school and council offices.

Its history is linked to land that formed part of textile merchant William Downe's estate and Bridport's trading past.

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Dorset's Historic Environment Record describes Mountfield as probably an early 19th-century house, remodelled in the mid-19th century in an Italianate style with bay windows and an orangery added as the house developed.

During the Second World War, Mountfield accommodated troops, including American soldiers and nurses.

From the late 1940s, it was used by the Grove School for Girls, which was still there when the property went to auction in 1953.

Its local-government role began in 1954, when Bridport Rural District Council bought it for £6,000, according to the town council's history. It later became home to Bridport Town Council's offices, giving the former private residence a continuing place in civic life.

Mountfield hosted civil wedding ceremonies, while Millennium Green provides lawns, gardens and paths for events, recreation and links to Coneygar Hill.