Plans to convert a barn on the edge of Holcombe into a home have been turned down by Mendip District Council.

A planning application for prior approval for a proposed change of use of an agricultural building to a dwellinghouse (Class C3) and for associated operational development on land at Stratton Road, Holcombe, had been submitted by Mr S Curtis.

The application site was located south west of Stratton Road to the west of Holcombe. The application related to an existing agricultural barn located within a field approximately 160m from the nearest residential property.

The barn comprises of a metal frame with partial blockwork walls of varying heights and timber cladding on sections of the walls.

The existing north elevation is a large open bay. The roof consists of profiled sheets attached to the steel frame.

The application site is accessed from an existing access point to the north east of the site on to Stratton Road, close to The Holcombe pub.

The proposal included a first floor Juliet balcony with external railings which would have extended beyond the external dimensions of the existing building.

The plans featured the replacement of the existing timber cladding with new weatherboarding and the existing profiled roof coverings would have been removed and substituted for a environmentally friendly material.

As such the barn would have effectively been stripped back to the steel frame and partial blockwork walls before the conversion works began.

In refusing the application, the planning officer's report said: "The proposed change of use would involve building works of a magnitude that is considered to go beyond what can reasonably be described as a conversion.

"The development would result in the external dimensions of the building extending beyond the external dimensions of the existing building through the addition of the external Juliet balcony railings."