COUNCILLORS at last week's West Devon Borough Council Planning meeting voted against the conservation and planning officers' recommendations, and approved an application for the attachment of 20 solar tubes to a Grade II listed building.

The owners of Wonnacott Farm at Lewdown had applied for the 1915mm x 65mm tubes to be attached to the east and west roof pitches.

Although the county highways authority, Environment Agency and South West Water had no objections and the parish council supported the application, the conservation officer had objected and recommended refusal.

He stated that 'the tubes would harm the appearance of the listed building and approval might set an undesirable precedent for other listed buildings'.

WDBC planning officers had agreed that the tubes would 'detract unreasonably from the character and appearance' of the building 'by virtue of their prominent position on the roof of the building and their alien appearance'. They therefore also recommended refusal.

The existing roof is not historic, and is clad in asbestos cement tiles, but planning officers said its overall appearance was 'traditional'.

'There is, of course, no objection in principle to appropriately positioned solar panels or other forms of renewable energy but, by being attached to the listed building, the panels proposed here are considered unacceptable,' they stated.

Councillors at the planning meeting disagreed with these views, however, and approved the application on the grounds that 'the development is not considered harmful to the fabric of the building and it is reversible'.

The solar tubes form part of a substantial programme of repair to the historic part of the farmhouse and will provide naturally pre-heated water for the heating system.