AN urgent works notice is to be served on an historic West Devon longhouse, which has been placed on English Heritage?s ?at risk? register. West Devon?s planning committee last week heard Sessland Farmhouse near Spreyton was Grade II* Listed, with a thatched roof and cob walls. Only 4% of Listed buildings were classified Grade II*, councillors were told. Jane Green, planning services manager, said: ?This is a very important building ? parts date from the early 16th century. ?Unfortunately, one part of the building is in different ownership and is falling into serious disrepair and efforts to secure repairs have been unsuccessful.? The committee heard a portion of the building, Sessland, had been separated for use as a granny annexe about 30 years ago. But since around 2002, this section had been unoccupied ? and now required repair and restoration. Councillors heard the owners of Lower Sessland, the occupied part of the building, hope to buy the unoccupied section. Ms Green said the borough had a duty to take formal action to preserve the historic building ? but the two options available came at a cost. She said: ?A repairs notice is very costly but the end result would be a fully restored building.? Ms Green said the disadvantage, apart from the cost, was that the borough could be forced compulsorily to purchase the building requiring preservation, and repair it itself, if the owners did not comply with the notice. The repairs, plus purchase, could amount to £156,000 ? with no guarantee of the maximum 80% grant that English Heritage could offer towards costs. Alternatively, the council could issue an urgent works notice, giving the owners of Sessland seven days? notice of its intention to carry out repairs, then recover the cost from the owners. This would involve weatherproofing the building by covering the trusses with a tin roof and installing a buttress to support the cob wall. Up to 80% of the £20,000 cost could be recovered from English Heritage. Cllr Roger Mathew, committee chairman, warned if the council was forced to purchase Sessland, it could be left with a ?virtually unmarketable white elephant?, because it was not a dwelling in its own right. ?It could leave the local authority in a bit of a conundrum ? with a helluva hole in its bank balance,? he said. Ward member Cllr John Darch said the condition of Sessland was having ?very serious effects? on the owners of Lower Sessland, who were unable to use all their rooms due to the unsafe condition of the neighbouring dwelling. ?The problem with a temporary repair is you are going to have a tin roof which isn?t going to look very nice on a listed building,? he said. The committee agreed to issue an urgent works notice to carry out the repairs, which will be funded initially by the borough?s development control budget. Rodney Hooper, owner of Lower Sessland, said he would sooner the council had issued a repairs notice on the owners of Sessland. ?A tin roof?s going to look a bit of an eyesore, but we should be able to thatch our bit hopefully, so in theory our daughter can move back into her bedroom,? he said.
