Representations Recieved

Mr Ken Smith - Authority Member

Details of the representation

Barn conversion on land opposite the Ore House, Winster:  Oppose the recommendations.  This building is an important part of the cultural heritage of the Winster area, where ropes were made for use in, amongst other things, the local lead mines.  While I recognise there is other development in the immediate vicinity, including the nearby house by the meer (which I think was only permitted on appeal) this, to me, is development in the open countryside.  While the proposals suggest relatively minimal impact on the exterior of the building, the creation of a formal access, the inevitable tidying up of the curtilage of the building, the parking of cars and the inevitable increased presence of people, light pollution impacts and presumably some external paraphernalia such as washing lines etc., mean that there is building creep into the open field system from the village.  We recently refused two applications for barn conversions around Wetton, one of which was close to the boundary of the village.  It has now come back in as an appeal.  If we approve this application, I think we make it more difficulty for ourselves to defend refusals such as that at Wetton and for future developments that extend village curtilages across the Peak District that we might be minded to refuse.  I know that applications have ti be taken on a case-by-case basis but policies for the landscape have to be considered on a wider basis and a development like this, at the end of the long rope walk field are detrimental to the Peak District landscape, particularly in this gateway position relative to Winster.