IT would be a sacrilege to change a 200-year-old barn at Bolton Abbey in any substantial way, North Yorkshire County councillor Robert Heseltine, told the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s planning committee – and the majority of the members agreed with him.

Lancashire County Council councillor Cosima Towneley, however, reminded the committee that the agent, John Steel, had warned that if permission was refused, the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees of the Bolton Abbey Estate would not appeal. “Why should anyone pour any more effort into a building which is absolutely no use?” she asked.

At present all that the public can see of it is the corrugated roof Mr Steel said. He explained that the Bolton Abbey Estate expected the cost of converting the barn into a two-bedroom holiday let, including using insulated dry lining for most of the interior, to cost just under half a million pounds.

The planning officer commented: “The internal finish …would have the appearance of a modern property. The proposed dry lining of this building would harm its heritage significance and could put the long-term survival of its fabric and features at risk of accelerated decay.” He stated that insulated lime plaster would be better as it was a breathable material.

The estate, however, believed that if lime plaster was used the barn would not be fit for use as a holiday home, said Mr Steel. He added that the estate had submitted seven sets of amended plans during its discussions with the authority and Historic England. One of the biggest changes had been to agree to thatch the roof with ling (heather). “This will be sourced from the estate as it would have been when the barn was originally built,” he explained.

The planning officer reported that the large threshing barn and adjacent walled-off cow house dated from the 17th century or early 18th century and was one of the largest surviving example of its type in the northern English uplands. It has partly reset cruck trusses, low eaves and remnants of heather thatching under the sheeting on the roof. The cow house, he said, had a particularly wide doorway which, it was believed, was widened in the late 18th century to accommodate the famous 1,132kg (312 stone) Craven Heifer.

Historic England assessed the barn and cow shed as a listed building in November 2017 about four months after the estate applied to convert it. Some of the committee members agreed with the authority’s listed building officer that conversion to any domestic use, including holiday accommodation, would have a detrimental effect on the high heritage significance of the building.

The planning officer told the members that until a few weeks prior to the meeting the officers had hoped to come to an agreement with the estate but then there were problems concerning what type of interior wall covering to use and the proposed car parking and curtilage area. He said that an alternative parking area had been suggested which the authority and Historic England believed would have a less damaging impact upon the historic layout beside the barn.

“Because the applicants are not prepared to change [these] we reluctantly recommend refusal,” he stated.

Allen Kirkbride, the parish member for the Upper Dales, commented: “I am very disappointed there hasn’t been agreement between the two parties. It is a historic building [and] what has been done to the roof is criminal.”

He voted in line with Bolton Abbey Parish Council which had not objected to the proposal but the majority of the members accepted the officer’s recommendation.

Pip Pointon, ARC News Service