Disused chapel to be turned into holiday home

Plans to turn a disused chapel in a Herefordshire village into a one-bedroom holiday home have been given permission, despite some local opposition.

The dwindling and ageing congregation of Eardisley Methodist Chapel in the village’s Woodseaves Lane “lacked the energy” to maintain it, and it closed for worship over a year ago, according to a planning application submitted last November.

The outside of the unlisted nineteenth-century building will remain unaltered, but a new storey will be created inside while retaining its original features “to preserve authenticity”, under the plans put forward by Alan and Philippa Dixon.

There had been no support locally for it to be put to community or other use, an accompanying letter from the church said.

Five objections to the plan from locals, and the submission from the parish council, focused on the impact of the likely on-street parking outside it.

Neighbour Lucy Meredith also feared noise from the new holiday home, which “would be able to host around six with much ease, and I worry that hen or stag parties might end up staying, causing disturbance”.

Herefordshire Council’s ecology officer also wanted a bat survey of the building given the “crevices and voids” around its roof.

But planning officer Andrew Banks felt this would be “disproportionate” and that informing the applicants of their legal obligations in this area “would suffice”.

Ensuring long-term viability of the building outweighed the “modest harm that might arise from one additional vehicle parked on the road” – which could have arisen anyway from its previous permitted use.

And he considered that the size and location of the property meant “the likelihood of large groups visiting for the purpose of stag or hen parties is very low”.