Cheshire West and Chester Council Planning: Farm building conversion appeal overturned

FARM BUILDING CONVERSION: Old Coach Road (Image: Google Street View)

Written by David Norbury

A decision by Cheshire West and Chester Council to refuse a farm building conversion in Chester's countryside was overturned by a planning inspector.

The issue arose at Withy Bank, Old Coach Road, Broxton where the application was raised by Mr K Siddorn.

Mr Siddorn told the council he was seeking the conversion of an agricultural building at the property into a dwelling house with parking and amenity space. The council refused to grant approval and he appealed.

Inspector Hannah Ellison said the main issues were whether the proposed development fell within the terms of permitted development rights with specific regard to the extent of the conversion works proposed and if so whether prior approval should be granted in respect of the design and external appearance.

She explained the change of use of an agricultural building to a dwelling house together with the work reasonably necessary to enable the conversion was permitted subject to various limitations and conditions. Only where the existing building was already suitable for conversion to residential use was it considered to have the permitted development right.

At the time of her visit the building appeared to be in agricultural use and the roof, walls and structure were in reasonably good condition. Extensive glazing would be introduced and overall, a very substantial amount of the existing fabric of the building would be retained. The works proposed would not be so extensive as to go beyond what was reasonably necessary to convert it into a dwelling house.

The council had refused to grant permission based on the extent of the work required and said prior approval would not be given in relation to the design or external appearance.

The inspector pointed out the property was of a typical modern agricultural design which was commonplace within the surrounding rural locality and was not an intrusive feature.

The dwelling would clearly appear as a conversion of a former agricultural building. Accordingly, the proposal would largely retain the building’s existing agricultural appearance and would not cause undue harm to the character of the wider area.

The inspector concluded the appeal should be allowed.

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