Plans to redevelop Wimbledon YMCA are in the ‘early stages’.

The hostel in The Broadway is currently seeking pre-application advice from Merton Council.

The proposals include the replacement of the building with a new hostel as well as a 13-storey block of flats.

Last week, the plans went to the council’s Design Review Panel and were examined by the independent professionals in private.

A spokeswoman for the group said: “It is important to YMCA St Paul’s that we provide good quality affordable accommodation to young people in need and our redevelopment plans intend to provide such accommodation to the latest standards.

“We are at a very early stage having carried out an initial pre-application meeting with planners after which we attended the Merton Design Review Panel on Tuesday, May 29.

“We will be going through how best to incorporate the panel’s feedback with our development partners over the next few weeks and seek to explain our revised ideas and timescales in due course.”

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This isn't the first time that plans to knock down the building have been on the cards.

Back in 2013, the Wimbledon Guardian was shown documents proposing a variety of designs for the centre on the Broadway which included a 24-storey building surrounded by smaller high rise blocks, as well as an option for a smaller 14-storey building.

The plans were not well received by the public and the idea never gained traction.

More recently the YMCA has been in the news for a very different reason.

In April the hostel closed its restaurant to the public, prompting 74-year-old Leigh Hicks to start petition to bring it back.

“We were shocked to hear that the YMCA restaurant closed to the public at Easter and shocked that the public was given such short notice," she said.

“I regularly attend classes and socialise with my classmates in the restaurant so we are deeply saddened that it has closed.

“It is sad that the thriving socialising of all the pensioners and other people who gather after their classes will be stopped."

The current building stands only seven storeys tall.