COUNCILLORS are to hold a special meeting at historic Hurstwood Barn to help decide its future amid fierce controversy.

Heritage groups are fighting against a planning application for converting the 400-year-old Grade two listed building into a dwelling with studio and workshop.

All members of Burnley Council's planning committee will meet on site on June 3 to discuss the plan.

Many believe it is better to convert the building rather than allow it to deteriorate.

But groups including the Ancient Monuments Society have urged the council to refuse the application.

They claim conversion would be extremely damaging to the building, recognised by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings as the finest example of its type in the county.

There are only four of its kind in the entire country.

The Council for British Archeology strenuously object, saying the important interior would mostly be destroyed by sub-division. Lancashire Sites and Monuments Record have called for an archaeological evaluation of the site.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England, Burnley and District Civic Trust and Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood Parish Council have also objected or raised concerns.

Hurstwood Barn is a late 16th century building with a post-and-truss construction and aisles on both sides.

Since 1987 it has been upgraded to a grade two listed building, making it part of the top four per cent of the total Listed Building stock in the country.

The council has received 12 letters of support from residents all agreeing that the historic barn would be better converted than left to deteriorate.

Coun Arthur Park told colleagues on the planning committee: "I am no historian but I know what I like when I see it.

"It is a wonderful thing to see and it is a matter of urgency that something is done before the barn actually falls down.''

Coun Les Harrison added that if the application was turned down there was a danger that the building would get into the same dilapidated state as Extwistle Hall.

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