Representations Recieved

I do not support the proposed recommendation for approval.

Core Strategy policy RT2 clarifies that accommodation for staying visitors will be permitted by extension or improvement of existing accommodation or by conversion of traditional buildings of historic or vernacular merit, however the use of entire farmsteads for holiday accommodation will not be permitted.

This has thrown up some questions for me, such as when does a farmstead cease to become a farmstead?

In all the literature Dale House Farm is referred to as a farmhouse, or farmstead. I believe there is land attached to the farmhouse although not the “site” area. If the owner chooses not to farm the land, does it cease to become a farmstead, even if it could be used for agricultural/ small holding purposes currently or in future?

My concern here, is that once the farmhouse is converted to holiday accommodation, it is not likely it will ever go back to being a farm house, the purpose for which it was built. Not only therefore will it lose its historical purpose, but it will also result in the loss of a potential future home for a family in the Peak District, who may want to farm, even if on a small scale.

Surely the farmhouse is one of the principle parts of a farmstead, and if the farmhouse is converted, along with the two current conversions to holiday accommodation, how much of the “farmstead” remains and can that be justified in policy?

I therefore cannot support the proposed recommendation for approval.