A plan to demolish a barn on the edge of an east Norfolk village and replace it with a new home has been rejected by councillors, despite apparent support for the scheme from villagers.
The future of Mill Barn on Hemsby Road, just outside Martham, has been debated over several years.
Since permission for it to be converted into a residential property was given in 2008 there have been three attempts to knock it down and build a new house in its place.
One of those attempts, in 2015, was dismissed on appeal by a government planning inspector, who said it would have "a harmful, urbanising effect".
At a meeting on Wednesday, officers at Great Yarmouth Borough Council recommended to councillors that they reject the latest attempt at planning permission.
They said the barn was outside the area specified for development in the borough’s local plan document - and that the barn is a “traditional feature”, the loss of which would “cause significant harm to the local historic environment”.
But Martham Parish Council chairman Paul Hooper spoke in favour of the application.
He said: "All you can see of the barn as you approach from Hemsby Road is a black brick wall, with a couple of rather dodgy 1950s window in the top right hand corner and an asbestos roof that looks like it's about to fall off.
"Is the barn historic? Well, it's been altered so many times over the years, very little of the original building is left.”
He said the village would gain “the elimination of a blind corner”, improving road safety.
Local Conservative councillor Andy Grant said: "This isn't a rare listed barn that Nelson had dinner in - it is a blot on the landscape that no one wants.
"Just 100 yards round the corner, there are 112 new homes.
"A further 50 yards up is the main doctor's surgery for the whole of Martham.
"This might be just outside a red line that the local plan states, but it's still within walking distance of Martham."
He added that "everybody in Martham is united in asking for this".
But independent councillor Adrian Myers and Labour councillor Bernard Williamson both said that support for the barn’s demolition from people in the village was not a “material planning consideration” and therefore could not be considered.
A majority of councillors voted against the demolition, with just two councillors voting in favour of it.
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