Plan for rural homes with WFH studios

A plan has been put forward for a courtyard of five houses, with separate working-from-home studios, in the Herefordshire countryside.

The five would be on the site of a current barn within the Mynde Estate, near the village of Much Dewchurch south of Hereford.

The application, by the estate’s owners Richard and Sarah Burt, replaces an earlier bid to convert the barn to housing, which was allowed in March under what are called permitted development rights, avoiding the need for full planning permission.

This new proposal, which does require full permission, has “superior design merit when compared to those achievable under the approved barn conversions”, which would be “reminiscent of terrace housing in city centres”, the application says.

Covering an area comparable to the two barns to be lost, the proposed new houses will instead bring “a significant decrease in built form” on the site, while “replicating the traditional appearance of houses in the area”, it adds.

Three home working studios will also replace a second barn, enabling residents to work from home, a form of development encouraged in the county’s main planning document, the core strategy – even though the development is in open countryside, which it discourages.

Comments on the application, numbered 221734, can be made until July 14.