Controversial plans to knock down a canalside music pub and replace it with apartments have been revamped after being stalled last year.

The Flapper, near Arena Birmingham, has been earmarked for demolition by developers to make way for the new apartments overlooking the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal.

In late 2017, a Stratford-based development team of Baskerville Wharf and Whitehorse Estates submitted proposals to replace The Flapper with 66 apartments but the project was met with fierce opposition from people concerned about the city losing another live music venue.

Last June, the pub, which has been owned by Baskerville Wharf since 2010, was granted a 12-month extension to its lease just weeks after that application was withdrawn.

And just last month, the pub was handed another extension until January 2020.

CGI of how the new apartments could look on the site of The Flapper
CGI of how the new apartments could look on the site of The Flapper

Now new and substantially scaled-down proposals have been lodged with Birmingham City Council to build 27 apartments on the site in Kingston Row.

If approved, the development will comprise seven one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom apartments along with 27 cycle spaces and reach up to four storeys.

As with the previous proposal, the project will have just two accessible parking spaces operated by a building management company for visitors, residents and deliveries.

The developers are in discussion with the owners of nearby car parks in a bid to secure parking for residents at preferable rates.

Developers have dramatically scaled down their original plans for the canalside plot
Developers have dramatically scaled down their original plans for the canalside plot

A grade II-listed crane in The Flapper's beer garden would be retained and refurbished if city planning chiefs back this latest incarnation of the project.

A report submitted in support of the application said: "This scheme has developed as a result of discussions with officers in response to the original planning application for this site.

"This assessment shows that substantial changes have been made in response to criticisms of the original design.

"The proposal is shown to be appropriate in principle, in terms of residential uses in this location, and in detail, in terms of both scale and appearance."

Campaigners hoping to save The Flapper have urged supporters of the pub to object to this latest planning application.

A post on the Save the Flapper website said: "The new plans are significantly reduced from the original plans which is going to make it even harder to successfully oppose them.

How The Flapper looks today - its crane will be retained if city planning chiefs back the project
How The Flapper looks today - its crane will be retained if city planning chiefs back the project

"It is therefore even more important than ever that we get our objections in. The Flapper is important to the Birmingham music scene and to the local residents.

"Holding on to The Flapper is important for the canal basin too - the boaters who use the moorings there deserve that space to be preserved.

"The bands who get their first gigs there have precious few opportunities to get those first gigs.

"Yet the developers would throw all of this away, for what? A few new flats."