A LANDMARK feature of Barry Dock’s skyline is set for demolition, should Vale planners give their approval.

Premier Foods have lodged an application to demolish Ranks Mill and its associated auxiliary buildings ahead of handing over to leaseholders Associated British Ports who stipulate the company clear the land.

The mill, one of Barry’s oldest factories, closed its doors in October last year ending 109 years of production in the town – despite attempts to save it.

Production halted on October 25, 2013 and the building was completed vacated days later.

Hovis bread and Mr Kipling cakes firm Premier Foods announced closure plans in July 2013, ending its long history in South Wales.

Vale MP Alun Cairns and Vale AM Jane Hutt then held talks with bosses, but proved unsuccessful in securing the factory’s future.

The Atlantic Mills site on the docks was built in 1904 by the then Hovis-Bread Flour Company - Britain's largest flour miller, which has since been renamed Rank Hovis.

It was bought by Premier Foods in 2007.

The loss was part of a shake-up of Premier Foods’ Rank Hovis network, which has a history dating back some 138 years.

Premier Foods, project manager Ian Bewick said he hoped demolition of the 33-metre high building would begin this October and predicted work would take three to four months with people noticing the difference after Christmas time.

He said: “It is an easy demolition but the complication is with the silos. Everything is going to be recycled and taken away in lorries. The site will go back to the Port.”

Associated British Ports (ABP), who leased the site, will decide what will happen to the land.