SALISBURY’S gasometer is set to be demolished almost ten years after it went out of use.

Wiltshire Council has granted permission to Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) to take down the metal frame and gas holder, along with a number of single-storey buildings on the site east of Coldharbour Lane.

SGN, which owns the gasometer, states that the demolition does not form part of any future housing plans, but would leave a “redundant brownfield site of good redevelopment potential”.

The gasometer is not listed, and is no longer needed as gas is now stored in pipework underground.

SGN says the empty structure is expensive to maintain, which is “unreasonable and unjustified given that they no longer serve a purpose”.

It is proposing a “careful and methodical dismantling”, having successfully taken down numerous gas holders across the country.

More than 90 per cent of the materials removed will be recycled, the firm said, and the work will have “no impact on the highway network”.

The job is expected to take up to six months.

The Type 47 gas holder was built in 1928 by Newton Chambers & Co Ltd and is described by SGN as “a common example” which “does not hold any special historical or architectural merit”.

Richard Deane wrote in Salisbury Civic Society’s June magazine: “While it is known that not every member is a fan of the gasometer, the Society’s general position has been that it adds an interesting element to views from many different angles and that it’s an important piece of industrial archaeology, in a city where much has been lost.”

SGN will donate the plaque recording the gasometer’s construction to Salisbury Museum, where it will be restored.