A BARN extension to accommodate a garage at a Buckland-in-the-Moor farm has been approved by Dartmoor planners.

Village parish councillors were opposed to the scheme at Elliott’s Farm because it posed drainage problems and would overshadow nearby stables.

The garage, at 11.5 metres wide, would be four times the width of normal structures of the kind, they maintained.

They also claimed the structure was ‘excessive’ for a single household, making it more intrusive in the landscape.

But members of Dartmoor National Park Authority’s development management committee had no problems with the application at last Friday’s meeting in Bovey Tracey.

An officers’ report said: ‘There is no current garage for this property. The parish council is concerned about the size of the garage but, given the lack of existing garage space and scale of the house and plot, the proposed garage is not considered to be excessive or harmful to the local area.’

It added: ‘The proposed development would conserve the character and appearance of this part of Dartmoor with no harm to residential amenity or highway safety.’

Malcolm Rogers, a chartered civil engineer acting for the applicant, insisted there would be no ‘over-shadowing or shading’ affecting the neighbouring stables.

The garage, he argued, would be sympathetic in scale and materials adopted.

The application was granted.