A petrol station will be bulldozed after plans to build a mini-supermarket in its place were given the green light.

The food store will be built on land currently used by The Northdown Service Station, also known as Gulf Petrol Station, in Charing near Ashford.

The petrol pumps will be decommissioned and its shop, along the A20 Maidstone Road, will be replaced by the new store which has been linked to the Co-op.

A number of trees will also have to be cleared from the site, but neighbouring business Charing Motors will be unaffected.

A new one-storey supermarket operated by a chain would then be constructed on the land, complete with a 21-bay car park and cycle storage.

A retail impact assessment submitted as part of the plans repeatedly refers to the store being run by national firm Co-op.

However, no decisions have yet been made on who will run it.

A Co-op spokesperson said: “Co-op is growing and, is actively looking for suitable locations to open new convenience stores in the region.

“While Co-op is aware of this planning application, decisions on the development of the site are yet to be taken as yet by the developer.”

The proposal has been put forward by the owners of the petrol station.

When the plans were first announced, it divided opinion in the village with some fearing it could have a negative impact on local businesses.

But Jill Leyland, former chair of the parish council and Charing resident, has welcomed the scheme saying anything that creates new jobs is good for the growing village.

“If it adds to the employment in Charing it will be a good thing,” she said.

"The petrol station was struggling and there is already a shop there so now we are just getting a bigger one.

“Since the Stodmarsh issues, we are due a lot of new houses so the Co-op should get a lot of trade.

“We are a growing village and the offering of the shop will be different to what is in the high street.

“It will be a pity to lose the petrol station but there are two others not very far away.

“The key thing is that the site is kept for employment, we don't want to have just new housing.”

It comes as signs encouraging people to ‘shop, eat and spend local’ have been placed around Charing.

More than 200 homes are set to be built in the village but have been held up by water quality issues in Stodmarsh Nature Reserve near Canterbury.

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.

Further plans for 18 homes on the land behind where the new shop will be were submitted in 2017 but were later withdrawn.

It's understood they will be resubmitted in the near future with amendments.