A DERELICT old furniture shop which was gutted by fire in a suspected arson attack has been demolished on safety grounds.

The former Wilces store on Cinderford High Street went up in flames just after midnight on Friday, September 29, with asbestos roofing sent onto High Street and the Lidl car park.

No-one was injured in the blaze, but parts of the building next to the town’s Lidl store car park collapsed, leaving debris strewn across roads.

An application to demolish the building, marked “very urgent”, was approved last week by the Forest’s planning department, although work had already begun at the start of November.

A stretch of Cinderford High Street was closed throughout the morning of the blaze while firefighters and building inspectors secured the building, which had been derelict for several years.

Dozens of callers had raised the alarm after seeing flames ripping through the former furniture shop near the junction with Wesley Road.

Three hose jets and breathing apparatus were used by firefighters and an appliance was on the scene until around 11.30am.

Drivers and pedestrians were diverted around Wesley Road and Parragate and warning signs advised drivers from Steam Mills to go through the Forest Vale industrial estate.

A Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said after the blaze that numerous calls had been made about the incident.

She said: “The building has been completely destroyed. There was asbestos in the roof and it has transferred on to some of the High Street and the Lidl car park.”