The £100,000 plans are intended to modernise the Market Hall in Ledbury ahead of new legislation about access for people with disabilities.

If the proposals get the go ahead, wheelchair users would be able to see inside the building for the first time.

But the plans have divided the town, with more than 7,000 people signing a petition in favour of leaving the market hall unchanged.

The building, which is in the centre of Ledbury, is a traditional medieval market hall built on wooden stilts with a sheltered area underneath.

The plans to modernise the building have been put forward because weddings and council meetings are held there, and new legislation means all public places must have disabled access by 2004.