Brendon Hills Farm Could See Barns Make Way For New Housing

Someone wants to build houses near Raleghs Cross. These houses would be on a farm in the Brendon Hills. The farm is called Higher Beverton Farm. Bill Norman owns that farm.

Last year, Mr. Norman got permission to change barns. He wanted to turn them into four homes. He received a specific type of approval for this, called ‘class Q’ planning permission. The Somerset Council gave him this permission.

His planning agent is George Matthew. Mr. Matthew said the farm isn’t as active now, and they want to develop farm buildings since they are not being used. Mr. Matthew said they already got okay for housing here with the ‘class Q’ approval back in October.

Now, they want to tear down the barns and plan to build four new houses instead. These houses will each have a garage and a traditional style. Mr. Matthew thinks this will improve the place a lot, as the houses should be better than the barns.

He mentioned that this ‘class Q’ method is common, and farmers often use it to get permission for houses. Many farms nearby have done this.

The homes will have one and a half floors and about three bedrooms. Each house will have 1,776 square feet, making them a bit bigger than the ‘class Q’ approved plans. Yet, they will be much smaller than the barns.

The council asks for comments by March 14 and hopes to decide by April 18. No one commented when they checked before, and the parish council also didn’t comment.