MINEHEAD Conservation Society is indeed fighting the application that has been submitted for the former magnificent stone-built country house known as Periton Mead.

It is Minehead’s finest remaining domestic property and is listed not only for its architectural and internal features but also its cobbled courtyard walls, piers, cobbled surface, raised terraces and sunken garden.

We therefore consider that several erroneous statements made in relation to the application must be corrected.

Periton Mead was built in 1915-22 as a private house for C S Orwin and is a significant example of the work of architect Percy Morley Horder. It is an Arts and Crafts interpretation of a Tudor building using traditional materials and craftsmanship.

As the listing of May 2015 states: ‘It is remarkably intact.”

It remained a private house until just after World War Two when it became a school.

When the school closed, it continued to serve as other types of educational establishment, the last one being known as 27/7, until the end of 2012.

It certainly has not been either empty or semi-derelict since 2000.

Whilst it is true that the current developers bought the property before it was listed, it is our understanding that they were made aware at the time that it was being put in for listing.

We believe that this splendid Minehead building with its Lutyens-style gardens and accompanying land is an important part of our town’s heritage and that it is our duty to fight against what we consider to be an ill-thought-out scheme which will see both internal house and external garden features compromised, and its setting, which acts as a buffer zone between the town and Exmoor National Park, altered by the proposal to build 17 properties in the grounds.

We would ask all who care about Minehead to make their feelings about the plans – application numbers 3/21/16/075 and 076 - known to Sue Keal at West Somerset Council.

It is only by making a united stand that buildings such as this can be saved from insensitive development.

Sally Bainbridge, Chairman, Minehead Conservation Society.