A Grade II listed historic farm may be converted into homes if a planning application is succesful.
According to Historic England, the farm likely dates back to 1784 before being altered and extended by the Leeds architect John Clarke in 1847. They describe it as being "designed to impress". However, the farm has say unused for decades and is beginning to decay. Now, its current owners who bought the site in 2021, want to convert the farm into housing.
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The application was submitted by Mrs Alison and Mr Kevin Roberts of LTDesign (UK). They hope to turn the farm into three homes.
In their Design and Access Statement, they say: "We bought Acacia Farm in 2021 when the previous owners sold Acacia Farm and it’s surrounding farmland as individual lots. The farmstead’s buildings, stables and agricultural stores are not a viable option for modern farming and in need of uneconomic expense to bring them back to good overall repair.
"We would like to invest in sympathetically developing Acacia Farm for residential purposes and in doing so protect the vernacular of the site, in particular improving and safeguarding the listed buildings and their setting. The proposal is for 3 dwellings.
"The proposed scheme has been determined taking into consideration the building layout and setting, to deliver accommodation which is conducive to modern living whilst maintaining and indeed significantly improving and restoring many of the original features of the site."
A Heritage Report attached to the application by Humble Heritage also details why the development is necessary. According to this report, the buildings have survived well and the site is a local landmark due to its high altitude and easy visibility.
However, they do face risks, one of the main ones the report highlights is the "lack of a current use". This means they are not being maintained and are "at risk" of deterioration.
The application includes the renovation and change of use to a home for the listed stables and agricultural storage building and the conversion of a non-listed agricultural building to a home as well. The non-listed steel frame barn, cattle holding pen, random stone constructed storage building would be demolished.
Now, the application needs to be approved by Leeds City Council before any development can go ahead.
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