AN application by Miss M West to allow a holiday cottage to be used as a home at The Old Farmhouse, Forestoke, Holne, is scheduled to go before Dartmoor National Park Authority Development Management Committee today.

The proposal seeks to remove a holiday occupancy condition on a small two-storey barn so it can be used as a single dwelling.

A report going before the committee indicates that the holiday accommodation has been rented through agencies since 1987, but there has been a decline in bookings in the last few years and it is now not viable as a holiday unit.

The application is backed by Holne Parish Council.

DNPA officers are recommending refusal. They maintain that it would result in a market dwelling with no means of controlling its occupancy and that a requirement to demonstrate a lack of demand together with extensive marketing as a going concern has not been met.

Officers also consider that a market dwelling in this location could not be considered sustainable development.