THE FUTURE of disused Dales barns looks bright as fresh permissions have been granted for conversions into homes.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has a new local plan, which is allowing for more barns to be permitted planning permission to be made into houses for local occupancy and holiday lets.

In the past, it was much harder for the change of use for barns as it was feared conversions could harm the traditional landscape of the Dales – but with an increased need for local housing, the authority moved to alter the local plan to allow for change.

In the last week, more redundant barns have been given the go-ahead for conversion and extension in Askrigg and Gayle by the authority’s planning committee.

Robert Heseltine, the authority’s member champion for development management, said: “One of the authority’s objectives is to promote local affordable housing and to help communities face the future more securely – and the conversion of barns plays an important part in this.

“The new, updated local plan contains more flexible guidelines to make it easier to convert roadside barns into housing for local people or into holiday lets and this additional flexibility means we can look after more of them and bring them back into use.

“These latest decisions mean that, so far this year, the National Park Authority has given approval for a total of 15 barns conversions of which 12 have been for local occupancy homes.”

Authority chairman Carl Lis said: “These buildings are a special feature of this National Park and this added flexibility means we can look after more of them and bring them back into use – which, in turn, conserves this wonderful landscape and helps to keep it alive.

The local plan, which is the authority’s 15-year strategy for sustainable development in the national park, has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

An inspector has examined whether the plan is justified by the evidence, conforms to national policy and is fit for purpose. The inspector will write a report that will be published by the authority, probably by the end of the year, and the authority hopes for a positive outcome so it can support sustainable development in the park.