A DISPUTE over plans to turn outbuildings into a home has led to protests from a parish council.

An enforcement notice has now been served demanding the structure is cleared from the site.

The planning application to rebuild outbuildings at Bridge Hewick House, Boroughbridge Road, Bridge Hewick, near Ripon, will be discussed by members of a local planning committee of Harrogate Borough Council, on Thursday, at Knaresborough.

Hewick and Hutton Parish Council object to the scheme, saying a previous building was stone and cobble, while the proposed rebuild would be rendered and painted.

Planning officer Mike Warden said instructions attached to a previous planning permission for conversion of the stone and cobbled outbuildings could not have been clearer.

"Consent was on the basis of conversion only and that any major rebuilding would need to be the subject of a completely new planning application," he said.

Mr Warden said the proposal involved building a new property in the countryside away from a recognised settlement, and he pointed out the site was within an area potentially subjected to "localised subsidence".

But in a letter to the council, agents Carter Jonas say that when permission for conversion of the granary-garage was granted, in 1997, it was the opinion of the applicant, architect and planning officer that the buildings were capable of conversion.

Planning and building regulations permission were granted for conversion of outbuildings to create a dwelling, they argue.