Turning Over New Leaf Farm
As James Garrett finds out, converting a lot of agricultural buildings into holiday accommodation can leave any farm in need of, well, agricultural buildings...
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In April last year the husband of the leader of Bath & North-East Somerset Council (B&NES) applied to convert two agricultural buildings into a hotel on the outskirts of the city.
Steven Horler made the application to convert the two buildings at family-owned New Leaf Farm, Bathampton, under so-called permitted development rights.
Introduced by the government in 2015, these "allow householders to improve and extend their homes without the need to apply for planning permission where that would be out of proportion with the impact of works carried out."
Horler, married to the Lib Dem-controlled council's leader, Kevin Guy, said he didn't need to apply formally for planning permission, which would have exposed the proposal to scrutiny by B&NES' planning committee.
This was, he claimed, not least because the farm buildings had existed for more than ten years. Except, a sharp-eyed planning officer spotted, they hadn't!
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