Plans to demolish and replace a village’s historic barn to enable a neighbouring convenience store to expand have been narrowly refused by councillors.
The project would have seen the One Stop shop on Kenninghall Road in Banham, near Attleborough, grow to fill more space, while a new cafe would also have been created on the site.
The planning application proposed replacing the derelict barn which currently stands next to One Stop “with a modern construction which matches the existing size, shape and scale and for the most part replicates the existing design.”
But at a meeting of Breckland Council’s planning committee on 29 November, officers advised councillors to reject the scheme, warning that the barn as it currently stands “plays a key role in reinforcing a sense of local rural character and distinctiveness in this part of the village”.
Members voted by six votes to five in favour of refusing the scheme.
