A DERELICT pub in a prominent Dorchester street could be turned into town houses.

Town councillors supported the plans to demolish The White Hart public house, a landmark that has appeared in the works of Thomas Hardy, in High East Street and erect ten homes in its place.

This is the second time that plans with agent Western Design Architects to develop on the site of the pub, which has stood empty since 2006, have been considered by councillors.

Seven years ago, brewers Hall & Woodhouse were granted planning permission for a scheme of 12 flats and three shops before putting the public house on the market.

The White Hart finally sold three years ago but by this time the original planning permission had lapsed.

Councillors unanimously voted in favour of the latest plans, which Western Design Architects have changed from a proposal of flats and shops to ten three-storey town houses, at a recent planning and environment committee meeting.

At the meeting, Coun Molly Rennie asked if the town council could request that the White Hart statue is displayed on the redevelopment in a place that would be visible to the public and councillors voted in favour on that basis.

Coun Andy Canning spoke in favour of the plans.

He said: “I think the important thing is that it’s a major site on a very historical road.

“You have a series of listed buildings and this development would enhance the high street and be a major improvement to what’s there at the moment.

“The style of the development fits with the rest of the town and it will make Dorchester look better.”

The only concern raised was by Coun Vivienne Allan who felt that one parking space per house, as outlined in the planning application, would not be sufficient.

In 1895 the White Hart was used as a base for horse drawn carriages and is described in Hardy’s ‘A Few Crusted Characters’ as a ‘respectable, if somewhat lumbering, class of conveyance, much resorted to by decent travellers not overstocked with money’.

It was rebuilt in 1926, resulting in the building that stands in High East Street today, after a fire.