Council blocks plan to turn holiday let into home

A barn at Lifton that’s used as a holiday let can’t be used as a permanent residence, after West Devon Council refused planning permission.

The development management and licensing committee agreed with planning officers that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove demand for Orchard Barn’s use as a holiday let was too low. It was granted permission for letting in 1989.

The application for the accommodation at Higher Carley Barns was considered to be against policy, as it is in an isolated location.

Councillors were told that although it was in a cluster of barns and buildings, some of which had been converted for permanent use, it was still some distance from Lifton.

Applicant Peter Sainsbury said he had brought the site in 1999 and had never let the property to holidaymakers. He told planners that the loss of it as holiday accommodation would therefore not be detrimental.

According to a BBC Spotlight report, he said 2024 was the worst year for local tourism for 10 years and added that South West Cornwall Tourism Association said bookings for 2025 are “abysmal.”

Cllr Chris Edmunds (Con, Tamarside) said the two-bed barn would be an important addition to local housing stock and was likely to create fewer traffic movements than a holiday let.

He said policies supported the reuse of traditional buildings that are structurally sound without the need for significant enhancement or alteration.

The site has a private driveway with direct access to the road, and he said it was “neither physically remote or cut off”, being about a mile from Liftondown, which has a footpath to Lifton.

There were no highways objections, and the plans were supported by Lifton Parish Council.

Cllr Jeff Moody (Ind, Tavistock North) said he couldn’t see a reason to refuse it, especially since West Devon doesn’t have enough land for housing in its Local Plan.

Cllr Patrick Kimber (Con, Hatherleigh) said there is a shortage of housing for local working people.

But committee chairman Ric Cheadle (Ind, Buckland Monachorum) said this property is ideally suited as holiday accommodation rather than residential, as it is in an isolated location.

“Our housing crisis is undeniable, but it does not mean you build the wrong sort of houses in the wrong place,” he said.

Permission was refused.