LUDGERSHALL High Street is set to receive a significant makeover when the E E Roy premises is redeveloped.

A pair of houses will replace the dilapidated former bank building adjacent to the site and the main shop frontage will be converted to form four new retail units. Warehousing at the rear of the premises will be replaced by seven flats.

The proposals include the refurbishment of the canopy that fronts the shops and will preserve one of the village's trademark features.

Planners have welcomed the proposals and say this site, in a conservation area, is currently run down and unsightly and this scheme fits in well with the existing commercial residential mix of the area.

"The retention of the shopping element is welcome and the refurbishment of the shop fronts, removal of the old structures and general design of the new build should markedly improve this part of Ludgershall," say planning officers in their report to Kennet councillors.

Plans for a pedestrian crossing in the area have had to be amended slightly to accommodate an access to the site and an archaeological investigation of the area has been commissioned.