ONE of Melksham's most prominent eyesores will be demolished before Christmas as plans for a £20m housing estate were finally rubber-stamped.

The red-bricked former GEC headquarters on Beanacre Road will be torn down to make way for a 130-home development.

Box-based developer Charlie Tull greeted news that his project had met the demands of West Wiltshire District Council planners with "a sigh of relief".

Mr Tull, whose development will include up to 40 affordable homes, said this week: "We will get started on the site very shortly.

"I would like to think we will be getting started on the demolition by Christmas.

"It has taken two-and-a-half years for the housing project to get through and before that we were pressing for a retail application.

"I am very pleased that this eyesore can be removed.

"This is the last piece of the jigsaw. I am looking forward to seeing the site developed."

Bloor Homes will build the housing estate, which will feature a mix of two to four bedroom flats and houses and a Bath-style circus.

Community leaders were initially opposed to the project, insisting the site should be kept for retail use.

But a £6m bid to bring a designer outlet village to the site failed, while 300 attempts to entice retail stores to the town have all been turned down.

Mr Tull said: "If we could have retained it for commercial use we would have done but we exhausted all the alternatives."

Former Melksham mayor Vic Oakman said he was "over the moon".

"It is on one of the gateways into the town and it will at last start looking more presentable," he said.

"But if they had accepted Charlie Tull's offer many years ago for the factory shop we would not have had all the problems we did."

As part of the project Mr Tull had to include access routes to The George Ward School and to land put aside for future use as a train station and bus link.