AN EAST Dorset church which was all but demolished when an HGV crashed into it is set to be turned into six flats.

All Saints’ Church in Stapehill was hit in August 2005 after a lorry driver from Carlisle fell asleep at the wheel, driving through the centre of the Canford Bottom roundabout and three gardens at 55mph before ramming into the building.

No-one was injured in the incident.

East Dorset district councillors unanimously approved plans to build a new two-storey building on the footprint of the original site at a planning committee on Tuesday.

Planning permission was granted in 2006 to build a new church and church hall, although these were never built. The church was built in 1931 after the Rev Francis Peverelle, of the Hampreston Rectory, raised £400 for the building.

It was officially opened on February 8 1932 by the Lord Bishop of Salisbury.