PLANS to convert a creekside barn into a home in an exclusive South Hams village have been given the nod by decision makers.

Applicants Mr and Mrs Leith of Chillington had applied for permission to convert the traditional stone Prowse Barn into a two bedroom house, with a detached home office.

Granting permission, members of South Hams Council’s development management committee felt the proposals would have relatively little impact on their surroundings, despite the site being inside the South Pool Conservation Area.

For this reason however, local ward counciollor Julian Brazil said he could not support the plans. South Pool Parish Council had earlier objected, saying among other things that the application conflicted with the conservation area management plan.

Cllr Brazil told his fellow councillors that the design of the home was fairly minimal in his view, and could have been ’a lot worse’. He was delighted to see that plans for car parking had been modified to make vehicles less visible.

But, he continued, the site was at the ’very sensitive’ boundary of the village, and he was very concerned about the visual impact of a proposed gravelled drive and the parking area. He had been, he said, ’witness to the time and effort’ that South Pool Parish Council had put into creating the conservation area, and he feared that light pollution, the new ’domestic curtilage’ created in a field, and even cars driving up and down to the new house would have a detrimental impact on it.

Read more in the Kingsbridge & Salcombe Gazette