Two attempts to get permission to convert this dilapidated milking parlour and barn and its attached lean-to into a family home have been rebuffed.

When Mark Borges applied to convert an old milking parlour and open-sided ‘Dutch’ barn on No Parish Farm in Braydon near Purton in late 2018 it was initially turned down by planners at Wiltshire Council .

Mr Borges had submitted plans to use the open-sided barn as the main living space in the house, with its upper space for three bedrooms and a bathroom.

In the milking parlour, a kitchen-diner and a family living room would be constructed.

Opposed by Purton parish council, the plan was refused permission by Wiltshire Council.

It decided Mr Borges would not be allowed to convert the structures under exiting rules, which allow farm buildings to be made into homes, because so much work was needed that it became, in essence, a new building.

The report by planners said the wall between the barn, which is being used to store hay, and the milking shed would have to be removed and an entirely new wall put in.

As well as new external wall, with tall windows being put in along the open side of the hay barn, planning officers said: “It is clear a substantial amount of the wall and roof cladding is rusty or weathered or otherwise unsuitable for retention.

"The proposal would require the wholesale reapplication of the cladding.”

The council told Mr Borges: “The application fails to demonstrate that the works required to the existing structure are those reasonably necessary for the building to function as a house.

"The works required are so substantial that the proposed development would result in the rebuild rather than conversion of the existing structure.”

Mr Borges appealed against that decision, and the case was heard by the government-appointed planning inspector.

In the report, the inspector said: “Taken as a whole, it is my view that the existing building would not be able to function as a house in the absence of the works detailed above, which are required to alter its original appearance and purpose.

“For these reasons, the proposed works would, as a matter of fact and degree, extend beyond the building operations reasonably necessary to convert the building to residential use.”