A pottery business in Higher Alham has been given planning approval to expand by Mendip District Council.

A planning application for the conversion of stables and threshing barn, and construction of a new workshop to provide pottery kilns, workshops and offices at Alham Farm, Higher Alham, had been submitted by Charles Rickards, the managing director of T G Green Cornishware.

The site, which is between Evercreech, Cranmore and Batcombe, was once purely an agricultural farm complex and comprises the main Grade II listed farmhouse, a few traditional agricultural buildings being curtilage listed and more modern portal frame buildings, which are not listed.

This application sought to expand the existing T G Green Cornishware pottery business on the site, which was established in 2014.

In approving the proposals, the planning officer's report said: "This application has three separate elements which include the conversion of the listed stables/threshing barn, the construction of a new modern portal frame workshop to provide pottery kiln, workshop and offices within the courtyard adjacent to the listed barns and alterations to car parking layout.

"The proposed conversions are not intrusive to the buildings safeguarding their architectural and historic form, and the proposed portal frame workshop will be built within the existing courtyard adjacent to an existing building of similar scale and design.

"Alham Farm comprises the Grade II listed building comprising Alham Farmhouse and the curtilage listed threshing barn and the cow byre.

"The key heritage considerations here are the whether the conversion of the threshing barn impacts its significance and whether the new barn has an impact on the cow byre.

"The threshing barn is an 18the century barn in good condition and is currently used as part of the pottery business. The proposals will insert a kiln which require a flue through the gable end.

"The creation of the flue will cause some harm to historic fabric and will be quite a large feature on the gable end.

"However, considering the flue is a key part of the nature of how the building will function, as the housing of a kiln, and because of the wider working character of the site, it is considered that the benefits brought by the reuse of the building would, in this case, outweigh the harm.

"The proposed new build barn is appropriate to the local character of the site and surrounding area being of a modern agricultural appearance and would not cause harm to the heritage asset.

"While the number of trip movements by staff are likely to increase slightly as a result of the expansion, the making of the pots on site rather than importing the made pots from elsewhere will result in fewer deliveries by larger vehicles.

"It is considered that the change in traffic type together with the limited increase in staff traffic movements is unlikely to be so significant as to adversely impact on neighbouring amenity."