Revised plans to build two houses and garages on a horse paddock at Kersey Mill have been opposed by the parish council, writes the Suffolk Free Press.
Suffolk Free Press writes:
Clerk Sarah Partridge said the council considered the planning application to build two three-bedroom homes at a recent meeting, but decided to object to the district authority, with three people in favour and four against. She said: ‘The reasons were on heritage grounds. It was considered that the proposed dwelling would cause harm to the significance of the setting of the listed buildings; they are too large and situated in open countryside.’
Mrs Partridge said that councillors supported the ‘excellent work’ carried out to preserve the mill and its other listed buildings. It was the third application to be put in front of parish councillors for the proposed homes meant for staff trained to attend to the watermill. Commenting on the revised proposal, David Eve, from Historic England, said: ‘We remain of the view that development here would be harmful, and the new revisions do not show significant relocation of the proposed building or substantial reduction in size which might reduce, if not remove, the harm.’
Mill owners Steve and Alison de Lara-Bell want to build the homes in order to meet a ‘critical need for on-site monitoring of the mill’. A letter of support, from a millwright who has worked on Kersey Mill, says it is essential that watermills are attended at all times and the properties would help to safeguard an important historic site.
