A FRESH attempt is being made to turn a derelict 100-year-old wooden bungalow on the Exmoor coastline into a modern family home.

Architect Ivo Carew previously won planning permission last year from Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) to demolish Hurlstone Bungalow, Bossington, near Porlock, and replace it with a larger, eco-bungalow.

But the approval was quickly quashed by a High Court judge when the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) started legal action against the park authority for taking an unlawful decision.

The park’s planners were forced to reconsider Mr Carew’s application and in a U-turn they then refused permission.

Now, Mr Carew has applied for permission to repair and alter the former Coastguard home rather than to build a new bungalow.

Mr Carew said: “The property is in a very poor condition following a period of abeyance and vandalism.

“Building materials are of a low quality and have significantly deteriorated over time.”

Mr Carew said the bungalow needed new weatherboarding and roofing, walls upgraded to meet modern thermal insulation standards, and existing multi-paned windows repaired and made good where possible, with any replacements being timber-framed multi-pane double-glazed units.

He said he would use integrated solar panels installed flush with the roof tiles to be less conspicuous, and would extend the verandah to create a more symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing building.

Historically, the bungalow had been larger than it was now, extending further to the south.

Mr Carew said: “Two other similar bungalows, St Steven’s and Horner End, which have now been demolished, were also built at a similar time along Hurlstone Lane.

“The demolished bungalows were built by the Acland family on the Holnicote Estate, now owned and run by the National Trust.”

Mr Carew said despite the dilapidated state of the bungalow, its use as a dwelling had never been abandoned.

He said the bungalow was about 437 yards north of Bossington with access through a ford and along a track known as Hurlstone Lane, which also carried the South West Coast Path.

CPRE said it took legal action against ENPA because planning committee members had not taken into account the authority’s replacement buildings policy requiring the scale and massing of any new build to reflect and be similar to the original dwelling.

A spokesperson said at the time it was important to speak out ‘when our finest landscapes are threatened by bad planning decisions’.

CPRE had been concerned the proposed new building would have been much larger than the existing bungalow, with double the size of its frontage, and would have impacted on the nearby coastal path.

The original decision by park authority members went against the advice of their own planning officer Joe White, as well as the concerns of the South West Coast Path Association, the National Trust, the Exmoor Society, the Exmoor Natural History Society.

Letters of objection on behalf of hundreds of local households had also been received.

Mr White will again be the park authority’s planning case officer for Mr Carew’s new application.