THE owner of a former village chapel cannot build a three-bedroom house on land behind, Cornwall Council has ruled.

In Dobwalls, Simon Kneen has been given planning permission to convert the former Ashleigh Chapel, lately used as a museum of ancient Egyptian artefacts, into a house.

Mr Kneen had also made a separate outline planning application to build another house on land to the south of the chapel, and this plan has been refused.

A rule of thumb for garden space, says Cornwall Council, is that it should at least equal and preferably exceed the footprint of the building it serves.

In the case of Mr Kneen’s application, the house proposed for behind the chapel building appears to be ‘crammed into the plot’, said planning officer Jonathan Luker.

‘The proposed dwelling would sit to the rear and close to the existing chapel…. resulting in the chapel (house) having a very small, poor quality garden,’ he said.

‘The proposed dwelling  would lead to an overbearing impact on the chapel and any associated outdoor space to the rear of it. This relationship represents a very poor quality form of development which would have a detrimental impact on the future occupiers of the dwellings.’

Dobwalls and Trewidland Parish Council had also objected to the plan as members felt it would be an overdevelopment of the site.

A condition has been attached to the planning permission for conversion of the chapel, stating that an area to the south of the building must be permanently retained as a garden.