Plans have been approved to create a replica First World War trench at a museum in an effort to attract more visitors.

The Gordon Highlanders Museum lodged proposals last year to install a wooden replica trench in its grounds and stage re-enactments.

Bryan Snelling, chief executive of the facility, said: “This has been quite a long process to get to this point so we’re very pleased to have been given planning permission.

“We want the trench to be open sooner rather than later but it does need to tie in with the 100th anniversary of the First World War on November 11, so we are hoping to have it in place by then.

“This will allow people to get a feel of what the trenches would have been like without having to travel to France.”

As well as being open to visitors of the museum, Mr Snelling said the trench will be used for a special re-enactment event.

There are also plans for local re-enactment group, The Great War Boys, who display and present talks on the war across Europe, to use the trench.

The trench will cost between £40,000 and £60,000 to build with £20,000 already granted by Museums Galleries Scotland and a further £20,000 given by an anonymous donor.

Plans submitted to Aberdeen City Council include detailed images drawn up by the city’s Covell Matthews architects of how the intricate network of trenches could look.

First World War trenches were designed in an angular fashion so that enemy intruders could not gain a clear line of sight and injuries from blasts and shrapnel were kept to a minimum.

In their report, planners said the application should be approved as it would be designed in a way which fits in with the surrounding area.

They said: “Although set in the grounds of a B-listed building, by virtue of its scale and siting the exhibit would not detract from the special interest of the listed building.”

The Viewfield Road site is in the middle of a £300,000 fundraising drive to ensure it remains open after being hit hard by the oil and gas downturn.

More than half of the target has been met so far with the city council giving £20,000 to help deliver the museum’s educational programme to school pupils from across the city.