CONVERSION of a barn in upper Wensleydale can go ahead after all because the Secretary of State has opted not to hold a public inquiry.

The move brings to an end a 2 year battle by a local family to turn the building at Cams House, near Askrigg, into a home.

A planning application by Jim Spensley to convert the barn into a house for his daughter, Sharon, her partner, David Winspear, and their three children, was given a rollercoaster ride. First the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority rejected the proposals, then they were approved in spite of warnings that the organisation might be acting illegally.

More than 1,500 people in the upper dale signed a petition backing the family, who feared they might have to leave the area because they could not afford property prices.

When approval was again given in October last year, it was open to the Deputy Prime Minister to "call in" the application for determination.

However, he has now confirmed that he does not intend to do this, and the work can go ahead once a legal agreement is signed to limit the property to affordable housing for rent in perpetuity.

The matter was referred to the Secretary of State because the authority's decision was a departure from planning policy.

However, proposals to expand the number of settlements where such conversion may be permitted are to be discussed during a review of the local plan, which begins next month.

Miss Spensley said the family was delighted at the news. "This gives us outline permission and we now have to put in for full planning permission, but we hope it will not be long before work can begin," she said. "It is a waste of 2 years but it has come good in the end."

Mr Spensley said the planning battle had helped draw attention to the lack of affordable housing in the Dales. He thanked all who had backed his application.

Coun John Blackie, county councillor for the upper dales and chairman of Hawes and High Abbotside council, which raised the petition, welcomed the news.

"It has been a long, long battle but at the end it seems that the local communities have been listened to," he said.

"If we can't hang onto the Sharons and Davids and their young families of the dales, we won't see the footfall at the shops, we won't keep the services and schools going and, in the end, the community would collapse in on itself."