APPROVAL has been given for two barns to be converted to seven homes on a farm a mile-and-a-half outside of Wiveliscombe.

Somerset Council planning officer Anthony Pick said proposals for the 675-acre Chorley Farm, in Blackwater Lane, met Government guidelines for permitted development which did not need a formal planning application.

Mr Pick said the guidelines covered buildings which were part of an established agricultural unit or former agricultural buildings which used to be, but no longer were, part of an established agricultural unit.

He said two single storey barns would be converted and a number of other buildings on the farm would be demolished.

The guidelines meant the new homes could not be larger than 1,614 sq ft individually, or 10,764 sq ft collectively.