Plans to replace a modern vicarage with flats have been withdrawn after flood concerns were raised.

Developers had requested to build a part two-storey and part three-storey building, divided into nine two-bedroom flats, with parking at The Vicarage, Bury Lane, Rickmansworth.

But on July 7, a letter was revealed to say the application, which was submitted on February 27, has been withdrawn.

Prior to this letter, The Environmental Agency had said it upheld its objection to the proposed development because of the “absence of an acceptable flood risk assessment”.

The agency recommended that planning permission be refused due to no floodplain compensation being provided.

An objection from the Local Flood Authority also remained.

The planning application received six objections with flooding being cited as one of many reasons for their concerns.

It is the second time the application has been withdrawn by developers, the first being in September 2022.

Records show that the modern vicarage lies where the vicar’s gardens used to be at least as early as the 1840s.

It remained part of The Old Vicarage’s gardens in Church Street, Rickmansworth, throughout most of the 20th century until it was sold and a new vicarage was built in the gardens, which the vicar moved into in 1977.