Four new houses are set to be built on Green Belt land in Saddleworth, which will see the demolition of an agricultural barn.

Plans were originally submitted more than two years ago in January 2022, which looked to develop four terraced houses on Ripponden Road in Denshaw, on land which forms part of Hey House Farm and is across the road from The Moorlands caravan park.

The site currently has a large stone barn which sits parallel to Ripponden Road and is described as "weather beaten and in need of repair" by Chorlton Planning Ltd in a planning statement prepared on behalf of the applicants, who are the occupants of the farm.

The plans originally sought to develop five, four-bedroom houses, but this was then amended to four homes, along with seven parking spaces.

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Despite the fact the houses will be developed on Green Belt land, they were deemed appropriate by planning officer Emma Breheny, who said "very special circumstances exist to outweigh the harm caused by the proposed development".

In February 2021, permission was granted to demolish the barn and replace it with one large dwelling, however the new plans to develop several homes instead were submitted.

Ms Breheny said "great weight" was afforded to the new plans being appropriate given the previous application was still extant.

She added that the proposed terraced homes would be smaller in volume than the barn, meaning there will be a "betterment" to the Green Belt.

The original planning statement read: “The new dwellings will provide comfortable accommodation within an attractive setting for the future occupants.

“The new dwellings will sit at a lower level than the existing residential development to the east and there will be no issues of intervisibility of overlooking.

“As a result, the occupants of the new dwellings will be afforded excellent levels of amenity and privacy and that of the occupants of the existing nearby dwellings will be maintained.”

According to the application report, the homes will have "sufficient outdoor amenity space", although Ms Breheny admitted this would be "limited".

The proposal was formally approved on Monday (February 5).