PLANS to convert a barn into a home in an area of outstanding natural beauty would be excessive and unsypmathetic to the area, according a council planning official.

An application for the project at Laverton Woods, Laverton, near Ripon, is being recommended for refusal when members of an area planning committee of Harrogate Borough Council meet on Tuesday.

Planning officer Mike Warden said the scheme would conflict wth North Yorkshire County policies, as well as nine Harrogate Local Plan policies.

A planning statement supporting alterations and extensions to Sawmill Cottage and the conversion of a barn points out the site is in a clearing within extensive woodland on Galphay Moor, south of Laverton.

Sawmill Cottage is occupied by Eric Clarke, principal forestry worker for the holding since the house was built in the late 1970s.

The statement says Mr Clarke has retired from full-time work, but helps on a part-time basis.

Meanwhile, the landowner has now taken over direct day-to-day management, but commutes from Aske, near Richmond.

The report says he needs to move back to the farm and extend the house for his family while the barn conversion would provide accommodation for Mr Clarke.

The scheme has sparked objections from the combined Kirkby Malzeard-Laverton-Dallowgill Parish Council, which says the property should be adequate for a forestry or agricultural worker.