A private house could be built on the site of the former Ballacallin Hotel.

The old Dalby pub burned down in February last year - after standing empty for many years.

Paxton Enterprises Ltd is applying for planning approval in principle (21/01485/A) for the new dwelling.

The company, which owns the site, described in a planning statement how demolition of the unsafe fire-damaged structure was expedited during lockdown due to the risks it posed.

A joint police and fire service investigation ruled out arson as a cause of the blaze, which was not thought to be suspicious.

The design of the new dwelling will be determined at a later stage, but those behind the application say that it ’should take account of the context of the site as well as the need to meet modern standards of construction and thermal efficiency and where possible, incorporating renewable energy and enhancing biodiversity (e.g the incorporation of bird, bee and bat habitats within the building and the site)’.

The company’s statement concludes: ’It is our view that the site should be considered as eligible for redevelopment as there was, until recently occupied by a sizeable building whose demolition was brought about through no fault of the applicant who cleared the site in the interests of safety and amenity and as an emergency.’

The Dalby hotel had been operated by Simon and Fenella Costain from 1997 until the global financial crisis forced its closure in 2008.

Mr Costain is the director of Paxton Ltd, and described the former building as ’an amalgam of construction methods over a period of roughly two centuries’ and not having had a high build quality, despite the improvements Paxton carried out since 1997

Prior to this, the former hotel had been empty for many years, having started out as a farmhouse - first becoming an entertainment venue in the 1950s.

In 2009 an application by Paxton Enterprises to turn the old building into private accommodation was approved after an appeal was dismissed by a planning inspector.