THE CONVERSION of a modern barn on the outskirts of a Purbeck village into three homes has been turned down – for a second time.

The site, on the eastern edge of Worth Matravers, is said to be ‘particularly prominent’ within the Dorset National Landscape and Purbeck Heritage Coast.

Changes had been made to the original application in the hope of persuading councillors that the homes would be an improvement on what the planning agent described as the existing ‘stark’ industrial-style building.

The agent, Brett Spiller, said he believed there had been no local objection to the barn conversion, which is no longer in use, because many people believed the homes would be better to look at than the agricultural building.

At the April 2024 hearing councillors were told that residents and the parish council feared that financially would be out of the reach of local families and likely to become second homes - and could lead to the 'creep' of housing outside recognised village boundaries.

Dorset Council decided at the time that the partial demolition and conversion of Worth Barn at Worth Matravers for County Gates Developments Ltd would be out of keeping in the Dorset National Landscape area.

The company had proposed three homes each with four bedrooms, balconies and large windows, partially using timber cladding and some Purbeck stone at ground floor level, with nine parking spaces between them.

Several design changes had been made to the buildings since that refusal, including recessing windows and special glass to reduce light spill, and making other alterations to reduce the apparent scale of the homes.

Wednesday’s area planning committee heard that although the designs were better than before, together with agreements over second home use, and a biodiversity plan with a 10 per cent net gain, the homes were still unacceptable because they were not considered sustainable – that anyone living there could not do so without having to use a car.

Worth Matravers parish council said it maintained its previous objection – largely because there had been ‘no material improvement’ in the application: “The PC continues to object in principle and on planning policy grounds to the size and scale of this new application proposal…The current application for this site, unlike the one built opposite (Quarry Close), offers no affordable housing and being on the outskirts of Worth village would if approved give rise to unwanted further private development pressure and impact on open land and gardens in the immediate area of Worth village.”

Councillors voted 5-2 to reject the proposed new homes on the site.

Illustration – Proposed building elevations - Scott Worsfold Associates Illustration – Existing and proposed views of the Worth Barn site - Scott Worsfold Associates