THE green light has been given to demolish a “dilapidated and infested” a landmark village building.

Phil Watson Civil Engineering of Chesterfield applied for permitted development permission to knock down the three-bedroom Old Post Office and its outbuildings by the A4172 at Much Marcle, opposite the Walwyn Arms pub.

Permission to convert it into a house was granted in 1997, but having been unoccupied for over three years, it now suffers from “irreversible dilapidation, damp, infestation (and) structural failure”, the firm’s application to Herefordshire Council planners said.

It proposed “careful manual demolition and dismantling to enable re-use/recycling of suitable materials”, it added.

The building, which was damaged by a car in 2020, will be replaced with “a more ecologically and environmentally efficient dwelling”, with demolition set to start this week.