A dedicated museum to house the Roman period shipwreck Asterix has been granted planning permission by the Guernsey Environment Department.

The remains of the Roman cargo ship were first discovered in 1982 and are currently stored in Portsmouth, where they have undergone restoration work at The Mary Rose Trust, but will be ready to return to Guernsey this year.

Oatlands Holdings was granted planning permission for the maritime museum, tea rooms and coach and car parking just before Christmas for a site at St Sampson.

Guernsey Museum and Gallery director Jason Monaghan said unlike existing museum galleries the new site is large enough to accommodate the ship, which has a surviving length of about 18m with at least four metres of the bow missing.

He said the site was historically significant as it had been an area for commerce and industry and until 200 years ago was also a waterfront site.

Monaghan understood Oatlands Holdings wished to construct the museum building this year, but said it would take some time to design displays and interpretation so the earliest it might open would be 2014.