PLANS to sell off and knock down a historic police building in Southampton and build new homes could receive the go-ahead tomorrow.

City councillors will decide on the proposals to demolish the buildings at Hulse Road and replace them with houses and flats.

Until recently the buildings housed one of Hampshire Constabulary’s three major crime departments, as well as the Serious and Organised crime team, with some of the county’s most serious crimes being investigated and solved there.

But those teams have now moved into the city’s central police station in Southern Road, while the Southampton and New Forest Coroners’ Office, which was also based there, was merged with the Central Hampshire office, based in Winchester.

With the site now largely empty, developer BB Property Ventures has lodged plans to redevelop the site with the city council.

The firm – jointly owned by Burton Property and Bargate Homes – will officially buy the site if the proposals are approved at a planning meeting tomorrow.

The proposals would see the existing buildings at the site knocked down and replaced with the new residential complex.

It would contain eight three-bedroom houses, and a mixture of six one-bedroom, 26 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom apartments, as well as parking and landscaping.

Earlier this year, Burton Property director Adam O’Brien said: “The development would be of a very high quality.

“We have done a lot of community consultation which has been very valuable and has played a key role in the plans we have submitted, and we are hopeful we can gain a positive planning resolution and revitalise this redundant site.”

Three objections have been made to the proposals, with residents living nearby saying the proposals would be an “overdevelopment” of the site.

However, city council officers have recommended that the council’s planning and rights of way panel west approve the plans at their meeting tomorrow.

Mr O’Brien said work on site could begin in the first half of next year if the plans are approved.