AN application by a Herefordshire fruit farm owner for permission to turn an old packhouse into a home has been thrown out by a government-appointed planning inspector.

Man of Ross Ltd, based at Glewstone, applied in January last year to convert the single-storey corrugated iron-clad building into a three-bedroom house, which it stated would be well-suited to local housing need.

A similar plan was refused permission in 2022, given the amount of work required to convert the building and a lack of capacity in the water connection.

The site is located in open countryside the former packhouse was used in connection with orchards that previously existed on the adjacent land.

The planners felt the existing building has no architectural merit or historic importance as it is constructed in a single skin of corrugated metal sheeting over a timber frame.

The firm’s revised bid sought to overcome these with a new structural survey, ecological assessment and proposal for a private water supply.

But last October Herefordshire Council’s planning officer refused that application too,

saying the same concerns remained and that the existing building would require a significant degree of new works in the form of a new floor, new wall coverings and new roof and potentially the timber frame structure, in order to function as a dwelling.

Man of Ross appealed against her decision. But now planning inspector J McEvoy has backed the council’s objections.

On a visit to the building, the inspector noticed several structural issues with the building including its decaying load-bearing timbers, deformed roof trusses and ‘temporary propping’ of part of the roof.

Meanwhile the route from the building into Glewstone lacked pavements or a safe crossing point, presenting “a degree of difficulty for pedestrians”, and leaving occupants ‘highly reliant on a private vehicle’, they added.

For these reasons, the planning appeal was dismissed.