Plan to convert Newport barn into two homes revised after council concerns

Developers have 'fundamentally reviewed' a Shropshire barn conversion scheme after council planners raised concerns.

Two previous applications to convert a former farm barn at Meeson Grange, at Meeson, near Newport, into two semi-detached homes had been withdrawn following official concerns.

Planning agents for applicants AFM Tractors Limited have set out their case to officials in an application lodged with Telford & Wrekin Council.

Agent Focus Architects wrote: "We have carefully considered the matters raised and undertaken a fundamental review of the proposed conversion.

"The revised scheme has been developed with particular regard to the building’s historic agricultural character, its original form and appearance, and the impact of the proposed fenestration and associated architectural details on its heritage significance."

Heritage experts have told planners that the disused brick agricultural range retains aspects of what survives of the 19th century farmstead's significance.

It forms part of a "loose courtyard" but has been changed to its 'visual detriment'.

But the proposals will not make that worse, planners have been told.

"Meeson Grange Farm can be described as the remains of a typical formal courtyard layout, where the barns, stables, feed stores and cattle shelters were ranged around a yard and carefully placed in relation to one another in order to minimise the use of labour, and where the manure could be conserved for further use.

"Such practices were recommended from the mid-18th century," heritage experts say.

"The farm buildings show the continued investment in the farm and changes to farming practices over the decades," they add.

And the proposals would 'meaningfully preserve the visual presence of the complex'.

The scheme would also provide homes in an area where "few new houses are permitted."

They conclude that the scheme is an "appropriate, well-informed response that preserves the farmstead’s current significance while allowing the necessary transition from a redundant barn no longer fit for modern farming practices to valuable residential units in an isolated rural community."

Planners will make a decision at a future date after the end of a consultation exercise.

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