A PUBLIC meeting is being held on Friday (October 20) to discuss a controversial planning application which saw a site visit by Exmoor planners become the subject of a mass protest by residents.

The residents were opposing plans to replace the derelict wooden Hurlstone Bungalow, in Bossington, on the South West Coast Path.

Friday’s meeting is being organised by Exmoor National Park Authority and will be held in Porlock Village Hall starting at 6.30 pm.

Protest messages on display in Bossington as residents attended a mass demonstration against plans to replace Hurlstone Bungalow.
Protest messages on display in Bossington as residents attended a mass demonstration against plans to replace Hurlstone Bungalow. ( )

Residents from 72 homes in the parishes of Selworthy and Minehead Without and Porlock took part in the site visit demonstration.

They gathered in the National Trust car park in Bossington as park authority officers and planning committee members arrived to view the bungalow site.

The objectors believed the proposal would be a significant overdevelopment of ‘a uniquely sensitive site’.

Villagers were concerned about the development n an area of ‘fragile beauty, precious ecology, and tranquil character’.

How the proposed new Hurlstone Bungalow eco home wold look.
How the proposed new Hurlstone Bungalow eco home wold look. (Ivo Carter Achitects)

Their concerns focussed on the size, scale, and massing of the proposed new bungalow and shed in relation to policies in the local plan which were agreed by the park authority to protect the Exmoor landscape.

They also pointed to what they felt would be the adverse impact on the landscape character and visual amenity of the area.

The park authority’s future landscapes officer, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, the National Trust, the South West Coast Path Association, and the Exmoor Natural History Society have all also objected to the scheme.

The plans were put forward by Exmoor architect Ivo Carew, who wants to live in the new bungalow with his young family.

Mr Carew is planning an off-grid eco timber bungalow which would have an array of solar panels, a biomass boiler, increased thermal insulation, and airtight construction techniques to avoid using fossil fuels.

Vandalism can clearly be seen in the existing wooden Hurlstone Bungalow, in Bossington.
Vandalism can clearly be seen in the existing wooden Hurlstone Bungalow, in Bossington. (Ivo Carew Architects)

He said the existing bungalow was built in 1924 as a home for the Hurlstone Point coastguard, but the building materials were of a low quality and had significantly deteriorated over time and since it became empty in 2016 the property had been subjected to vandalism.

Mr Carew said repairing and renovating the bungalow to meet modern sustainability requirements would require extensive structural upgrading and external insulation cladding and would take longer than rebuilding it.