Plans to turn a building into a two-bedroom house on the border between the Ribble Valley and Blackburn have been refused.

The building, Croft Cottage, is at Ramsgreave Hall Farm in Ramsgreave.

The application says no external works would need to take place to the building with only internal fittings needed.

However, Ribble Valley Borough Council rejected the plans, saying they did not amount to an “appropriate conversion of a rural building.”

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A decision notice said: “The proposal is considered to be in direct conflict with criterion 4 of Policy DMH4 of the Ribble Valley Core Strategy insofar that the building to be converted fails to benefit from a genuine history of use for agriculture or a rural enterprise.

“As such it does not amount to an appropriate conversion of a rural building, nor has it been adequately demonstrated that the proposal is for that of local needs housing, or for the purposes of agriculture, or would satisfy any of the other exception criteria.”

They added that a new home in this location would fail to benefit from “adequate walkable access to a wide range of local services and facilities.”

A planning statement submitted to the council last month said: "There are no physical changes proposed to the building.

“To use the building as a dwelling, as proposed, only internal fitting out is required, as the building is substantially completed.

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“The access to the site is a long-standing access and is already in place. The building is surrounded by an existing agricultural concrete yard, where parking and turning can be provided without further physical alteration.

“The conversion will provide a two-bedroomed house.”

The applicant has six months to appeal the council’s decision if they wish.