Plans to build a new home for 'retiring wharf managers' next to a local canal have moved forward following a successful planning appeal.

A planning inspector has granted permission in principle for the new house to be built on Wharf Lane, Lapworth.

Warwick District Council had originally rejected the application in October last year, saying it was "inappropriate development" in the green belt.

However, the original decision has now been overturned.

In their report, the inspector acknowledged the plans did "conflict with the council's spacial strategy" for the open countryside.

"However, the scale of this conflict is limited by the scale of the proposal and that it would not be isolated development where future occupiers would be reliant upon private motor vehicles," the report continued.

"I therefore find that the harm arising from this conflict with the local plan is much reduced."

The application states the applicants bought the Swallow Cruisers Site on the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in 1989, moving into the three bedroom house on site.

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"The applicants are now close to retirement and wish to stay by the site at Wharf Lane," plans stated.

"However, they are faced with the problem that the house and wharf are not freehold, being leased from the British Waterways Board, then British Waterways, now privatised into the Canal & River Trust."

Now permission in principle has been granted, a more detailed planning application will need to be submitted before works can begin.

(Header image via Geograph.org.uk)