PLANNING permission is being sought to build five new homes south of Bow at a disused farm.

Two barns and a former farmhouse would be demolished to make way for the scheme if Mid Devon District Council gives Mr J Pearce of Cheriton Bishop the green light.

Mr Pearce secured permission to convert the barns at Blue Violet into four homes in February under “Class Q” of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015, which allows the conversion of agricultural buildings into homes without the need for a full planning application.

Permission was also granted in 2010 and again in 2013 to replace the farmhouse, but the construction was never completed, and, “as the build failed to reach a watertight state, the house has fallen into disarray over the years causing significant damage to the works which were undertaken”.

If the current application is approved, each of the new two-storey houses would have four bedrooms, parking space for two cars under detached carports, large private gardens, and roof solar panels.

The walls would be brick, with partial black timber cladding, and the roofs slate. The windows and rainwater goods would be made with uPVC.

Each house would have a large window above the entrance door, an exposed steel beam and a large two-storey atrium to “capture the vast barn-like space”.

Between the houses wildflowers would be planted “to visually break up the development, making each plot unique”.

“The dwellings are to be better-sized, -proportioned and -positioned to ensure that they all provide all the standards expected of modern-day living,” planning documents say.

“High levels of natural daylight and natural cross-ventilation will create comfortable homes capable of taking advantage of passive heating and cooling.

“The airtight construction required by new-build dwellings will also reduce the operational carbon usage and fuel bills for future occupants.

“The proposal will result in more sustainable dwellings both in terms of efficiency/ compliance with current building standards and usability which meet the current and future needs of modern family living.

“This proposal will benefit the local area by providing a sensitive replacement of redundant and dilapidated farm buildings which respond directly to their former agricultural context whilst providing additional housing on the outskirts of Crediton.”

Bow Parish Council has backed the proposals.

You can see the application on Mid Devon District Council’s website under reference 25/01470/FULL.

To see more public notices and planning applications, visit: publicnoticeportal.uk.