Plans to convert barn between Blackford and Mark into home are resubmitted

Plans to convert a barn between Mark and Blackford into a home have been resubmitted to Sedgemoor District Council.

A planning application to determine if prior approval is required for the proposed change of use of an agricultural building to a dwelling and associated building operations at Totney Wick, Little Moor Road, Mark, has been submitted by Richard Weight.

Further barns at the site are proposed to be retained as they are for garaging and storage purposes for both the existing house and this proposed barn conversion.

Mr Weight farmed and lived at Totney Wick between 2004 and 2016, with farming activities primarily being the rearing of sheep on a fully commercial basis.

After 2016, the land and barns were kept in use for sheep farming by the adjoining farmer Mr Comer, who farms more than 400 acres of land in the locality.

This application is a resubmission of an earlier plan, which was turned down as it was felt that the full replacement of the roof covering went beyond the definition of a conversion of a building already capable of such a change.

In this application, the existing roof cladding would be retained, while only minor amendments are planned to the wall cladding.

The barn conversion would be accessed off the existing stone drive serving Totney Wick but with a spur off to avoid traffic meeting in front of the existing dwelling.

The application also states that doors and windows will be of a traditional painted timber form, additional hedge and tree planting is proposed along the new access and in the gardens of the dwelling, and no alternations would occur to the timber-framed structure of the barn.