A FORMER pig farmer's dreams of turning his barn into a house may again be dashed after York planners recommended refusal of his scheme.

Chris England has once again put in an application to transform the barn on his land in Holtby, near York, after an original proposal was rejected last year amid controversy.

City of York Council planning committee members turned down the idea, in spite of the fact that their own officers had advised Mr England to look at housing development.

Councillors who said the land should be used for employment or recreational activities criticised their own officers for giving the wrong impression to him.

Now officers have recommended refusal - despite Mr England professionally marketing the building to establish whether there was any demand for employment use.

"We've done everything we can to market the building for business use and genuinely made efforts to comply with the planning requirements," said Mr England, who again claims he has been misled by planners.

"This has been going on for too long."

Mr England has applied to turn the barn - which stands in York's green belt - into a residential property.

Government advice states that re-use of redundant agricultural buildings should be for employment or recreational use, with residential use being considered as a last resort.

The planning report states that it has "not been convincingly demonstrated that the building is unsuitable for employment use or that no local demand exists for buildings for such use".

The council has received 16 letters of objection to the proposal from local residents.

One states that approval would lead to more applications for housing in the green belt and that access to the site is "dangerous and inadequate".

Another resident claims the marketing exercise was "carefully calculated to ensure that no interest was forthcoming" and that any conversion should create employment in the village.

Holtby Parish Council also objects to the proposal.

It "strongly objects" to new development taking place outside the village envelope.

The meeting takes place in the Guildhall, tomorrow at 2pm.

Updated: 10:58 Tuesday, May 07, 2002