PLANNING chiefs at Warrington have given the go-ahead for the conversion of a disused agricultural building to a dwelling despite strong objections from local councillors.
The development is at the former Ramswood Nurseries in Mill Lane, Walton – and the objections from local councillor Sharon Harris and from Walton Parish Council were based on the belief that the building had been erected as a dwelling in the first place as a means of circumventing planning restrictions in the Green Belt.
Walton Parish Council argued that the property should be demolished and the site returned to the Green Belt. They believed that approving the scheme would prevent the site from ever being returned to agricultural use.
Members of the borough’s development management committee were told a number of alterations would be necessary to the building, including replacing a door and inserting two new windows in the southern elevation, inserting three new windows in the northern elevation and providing two roof lights.
Two roller shutter doors in the eastern elevation would be replaced with patio doors and two windows in the western elevation would be replaced with patio doors and a new window.
Replacement windows would be installed in existing openings.
A new vehicle access would be provided to Mill Lane to the west of an existing access.
Planning officers said the building had been disused since 2010 and that any agricultural use of the surrounding land had ceased in 2014.
The applicant had stated that there was no intention to resume agricultural work on the site.
The building as it is today
Agricultural building can become a home – planners
44 Comments
4 Comments
could the planning department not add a clause forbidding any more building on the site for the next X number of years or automatically rejecting any other planning applications for the site.
as is mooted in the article it is the thin end of the wedge and what is to stop the owner in two years deciding that he wants to build a few dozen flats or such like citing previous planning permission.
In answer to your first question Sid – it would take common sense.
In answer to your second – the plans could possibly be already being drawn up.
The brickwork on this disused “agricultural building” looks surprisingly good for its allegedly humble beginnings. The eye catching blue engineering brick string courses suggest it was meant to be more than it was/is claimed to be.
POSITRON, there seems to be an ever growing trend in attractive ‘agricultural buildings’. There’s such a building just off the A49 past Norcott Brook. A magnificent entrance leads to a stunning block of buildings which apparently provide luxury living accommodation for extremely reclusive turkeys.