VILLAGERS are opposing plans to convert a village barn into an 'aparthotel'. 

A Mr Austin has applied to the South Downs National Park planning authority to convert the barn, at Old Green Farm, Whites Hill, Owslebury.

On February 13, the application had 28 objections, including from Owslebury Parish Council.

In the application's covering letter, it said: “The application relates to a single building, which was in use for agriculture on July 3 2012 by the previous owners of the property and no planning permissions have been granted since that time, the applicant is the sole owners of the property which includes the subject building and none of the associated land is tenanted.

“The Government is committed to supporting the diversification of the rural economy through the reuse of agricultural buildings for flexible commercial purposes, as defined by Class R.

“The building is not listed, nor is it a scheduled monument and neither does it sit within either a safety hazard area or military explosive storage area.”

Owslebury Parish Council held a meeting on February 8 to discuss the plans.

Hampshire Chronicle:

In the objection, it said: “The site is situated at the top of three very narrow lanes which cannot be widened. The application makes no statement about noise. The parish council would like clarity on how noise can be defined when there is no detail on what the barn will ultimately be.

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“The authority should note that at the parish council meeting to discuss the application there was a very big turn-out of parishioners, almost all of whom were concerned about the application, and wanted the authority to exercise its discretion to refuse it on the grounds outlined above.”

Clare Brown, of Hilly Close, Owslebury, said: "This village does not need an 'Aparthotel'. It is used as a rat run whenever the M3 is closed, making it impossible for existing villagers to even leave their homes. The roads around here are country lanes, and are simply not built for the traffic that already uses them. The horse riders and cyclists that use these lanes do so as they are safe. More traffic and tourists will take away that feeling, as well as taking away the peace and tranquillity of the village - something I thought the SDNP was supposed to be protecting."

Zoe Kingham, of Portsmouth Road, Fisher's Pond, said: “The proposed development neighbours onto a local bridleway network, this network is already heavily used and under maintained and I fear that adding tourism to this will only worsen matters. Additionally, the road access to the site is limited only accessible through rural lanes and the village.”

To see more about the application online, search SDNP/22/05927/PA3R on the South Downs National Park planning portal.