A drive-thru restaurant and three shops will replace eight bungalows used by disabled veterans on their return from the First World War.

Developers were given the green light in 2012 to demolish the earmarked homes and a former Post Office in Hermitage Lane, Aylesford, and build one retail unit in their place but have now successfully requested to amend the application.

Permission has been granted to erect four commercial properties, instead of the proposed single building, a car park with around 130 spaces, including designated bays for Blue Badge holders and for parents with young children, and a service yard.

The identities of the site’s potential retail and food companies have not yet been revealed.

A new entry road will be built on Hermitage Lane and pedestrians will be able to access the development via a designated path off London Road, adjacent to the Sainsbury’s bus stop.

The vacant rundown homes are owned by the Royal British Legion Industries. They were constructed in the 1920s as part of the charity’s purpose-built village at Preston Hall, which is adjacent to the plot.

People still live in a cluster of the organisation’s bungalows, which lie to the south of the land next to allotments, and do not form part of the 1.18 hectare application area.