AN old telephone repeater station in Harnham is to be demolished and replaced by six houses after the developer won an appeal to get planning permission.

A planning inspector presided over an inquiry in November after property management company Telereal Trillium appealed a decision made by Wiltshire Council's Southern Area Planning Committee in November 2014.

Councillors rejected the plans for the derelict 0.17 hectare brownfield site in Shaftesbury Drove on the grounds of overdevelopment.

But now the three to four storey building constructed in the late 1930s will be demolished to make way for two detached four-bedroom houses and two pairs of three-bed semi-detached houses after the inspector ruled in favour of the development.

The appeal decision report by inspector Jennifer Tempest stated that while the redevelopment would "significantly change" the site's character and appearance, it would not have an "adverse effect".

She says while she understands the council's decision and the points made by local residents regarding the generally spacious character of site's surroundings, she attached "very considerable weight" to the fact the six properties would result in a development "more in keeping" with existing residential surroundings than the present one.

The report states: 'While the telephone repeater station may be an accepted part of the local environment, it is a building of considerable scale and mass which does not fit in with the character of the surrounding area.

'I consider the proposed housing scheme would not appear to be unduly urban in this context.'

She said she considered a development known as Bouverie Walk, on the opposite side of Old Blandford Road, to be part of the character of the area which comprised detached houses in plot sizes "considerably less" than that of many other properties in the area.

The report states: 'Although semi-detached dwellings do not follow the predominant pattern of detached properties in the area, the two pairs proposed would not appear incongruous in this location.'

As part of the development, the developer will provide £53,441 towards the provision of affordable housing within Wiltshire.