DEVELOPERS have been given the go ahead to transform a former petrol station branded as a city “eyesore”.

Wiltshire Council has given the green light for Salisbury-based Charter House Planning to regenerate The Ramparts, on the corner of Wilton Road and Devizes Road.

The company was awarded planning permission in June to develop the site into a new headquarters office.

Planning director Dan Roycroft said: “This site has been vacant now for 14 years and has become a real eyesore on an important gateway into Salisbury.”

The proposal will see the construction of a stone building providing office floor space, along with a parking for a local firm.

“We’re delighted that Wiltshire Council have been brave enough to grant permission for a building of such contemporary design on a site that has been plagued with numerous proposals over the years for rather ordinary and lacklustre developments,” Mr Roycroft added.

“We hope that this refreshing redevelopment of The Ramparts, along with the ongoing redevelopments along Wilton Road, will bring positive investment and change to a rather neglected part of our historic city.”

Within the consultation stage earlier this year residents gave their backing for the redevelopment, with resident Stephen Gill classing the proposal as “fresh and modern”.

He added: “[It is] just what is needed for this neglected area of Salisbury.”

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Salisbury Civic Society also supported the scheme.

The site was formerly the home of important local inventor and photographer, Theodore Brown, but was demolished in the 1960s and redeveloped as Henley’s Garage which was later torn down to make way for a petrol station.

In 2002 the site became vacant and was eventually levelled to be used as a car park more recently.

Planning consent was granted in 2010 for a mixed scheme providing commercial units on the ground floor with 14 flats over the first and second floors – but the plan never came to fruition on site.

It is expected that building work will begin on the site later this year.