West Norfolk Council has been recommended to approve London-based financier Naomi Clark's proposals to demolish the former 1930s council house in Burnham Market and replace it with a much larger four-bedroom property.

Ms Clark - who is head of investment product management at USS and previously worked at JP Morgan - angered locals when she applied to knock down the house, which is separated by a thin party wall from the home of elderly neighbours David Wells, 92 and his 87-year-old wife Ivy.

They fear "banging, drilling and demolishing" would leave them feeling unsafe in their home.

But a report to West Norfolk's planning committee, which meets on Monday, December 1, says an engineer's report has said Ms Clark's home at 11, Walkers Close has "structural deficiencies including slight weaknesses to the roof, some bowing of walls and cracks".

The two houses in Burnham Market. The home on the left will be knocked down as part of the plans (Image: Owen Sennitt)

It concludes demolition and rebuild would be the “preferred option to fully upgrade the property to modern building standards”.

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