An end could be in sight to a two-year wait for residents at a block of flats in Dorchester to again see the light of day.

Parts of Signal House and Bridge House, alongside Culliford Road bridge, has been shrouded in scaffolding since problems were discovered with the roof.

Now Magna, which owns the building, is asking for planning permission for new roof slates.

The move has been welcomed by district and town councillor David Taylor who said: “Yes please, let's get it done...goodness knows how much the scaffolding has cost them, it's been there for two years."

The block of flats, Dorchester's tallest, was built in 2010 for Magna on former Eldridge Pope brewery land at the junction of Culliford Road North and Prince of Wales Road.

But the existing roof soon deteriorated and now needs to be replaced – because of insufficient ventilation behind the slates, according to Magna documents sent to the district council.

The old slates will be replaced by Redland Cumbrian roofing slates, if planners agree the change:

“the proposed slate will not materially affect the appearance of the building and will provide a satisfactory solution to the existing roof finish defect,” said the housing association in the details of their planning application.

Stephanie Lloyd-Foxe, project manager for Magna Housing, said: “The building has been scaffolded in sections. The section at Bridge House has been up since October 2016. We started to put up the remainder of the scaffolding to the rest of the building in late 2017.

“Assuming we get permission, we would start work on the roof as soon as we can and we expect the work to be complete next spring.

“We have been in touch with our tenants throughout the process and they have all remained in the building during this time.”

The building is one structure but is divided in two - Bridge House, closest to the rail bridge, is affordable housing, with Signal House as shared ownership. In all the building has almost 50 flats.