A car park next door to Cheltenham's oldest surviving building could be turned into a "mixed use innovation hub" made out of shipping containers.

The parcel of land owned by Gloucestershire County Council sits to the east of St George's Place in the heart of the town centre.

Currently used as a car park, it borders Cheltenham's Children's Library and the Grade I-listed Cheltenham Minster and is accessed off Chester Walk.

The plan would be for a two-story building to include office space, educational and training facilities and food and beverage outlets to service the day-to-day users of the building.

The main use for the ground floor of the building would be as a "flexible, serviced event space for users such as the Cheltenham Festivals, Music Works, Marketing Cheltenham and Cheltenham BID amongst others."

The space would be used to "deliver a calendar of events to extend the reach of existing and new cultural programmes."

The designs submitted to Cheltenham Borough Council say that the "scheme will be constructed predominantly using converted shipping containers.

Screening will be installed at first-floor level at the eastern end of the building to mitigate the impacts on the Medieval Minster and its setting.

Under the proposals an existing boundary fence to the churchyard will be removed to create a single open space between the two buildings.

The eastern side of the building has been designed to "protect the tranquil setting of the church" with more enclosed elements designed to minimise light spill and activity.

Contact has already been made with Historic England due to the possible impact on the 12th century church, likely to be the oldest surviving building in the town.

In a letter sent to planning consultants Evans Jones, Samuel Souter, assistant director of historic buildings and areas at Historic England offered initial support for the development.

"Broadly speaking, Historic England supports this proposal," he said.

"Whilst the identified tranquillity of the site is an attribute that we would like to see maintained to a degree, we believe that the churchyard is a wholly under-appreciated, under-utilised space with huge potential to be a real historic asset to the town."

However, some concern was raised at the scheme using shipping containers and the proposed linking of the land between the two structures.

The Application was validated by Cheltenham Borough Council last week.

There have been five previous attempts to earn planning permission on the site, all of which have been refused.

Previous schemes have looked at building 24 residential flats and a number mixed use building containing apartments and office space.

The standard consultation on the plans runs until March 4.