A SEVEN-YEAR debate over the conversion of a green belt barn into a house could be at an end - after the plan gained the support of 180 people.

The owners of the small stone barn at Churn Milk Hall Lathe, Skipton Road, Ilkley, have been seeking permission to turn the building into a house since 1996. Bradford Council planners have turned down four planning applications, and two planning appeals were unsuccessful.

Next week Keighley Area Planning Panel could finally grant planning permission for the development, after a planning officers' decision to recommend approval of the plan.

A 182-signature petition in favour of the barn conversion has been lodged, along with 17 letters of support, and Ilkley Parish Council's plans committee has also recommended approval.

There were three letters of objections to the plan.

The original proposal - to convert the barn to a two-bedroom bungalow - was refused planning permission in 1996. A similar plan was turned down later in the year, and a planning appeal was dismissed.

A plan to rebuild the barn to create an agricultural workers' bungalow was turned down in 1997, and the subsequent planning appeal dismissed in June 1998.

Permission was granted to rebuild the roof in 1999, to allow for agricultural use, then a further plan to change the barn to a dwelling was refused in November, 2000.

The most recent plan, backed by the petition, was held back for further consideration by the Keighley Area Planning Panel earlier this year. But planning officers have now concluded that turning the barn into a house would improve the security and supervision of the owner's horse livery business.

And although objectors said the previous reasons for refusal still applied, a report by planning officers says that the maintenance and re-roofing of the barn by the owner allows the building to be used for agricultural businesses.

Objectors said the development would be inappropriate in the green belt, and questioned whether the restored barn had ever been used for agricultural purposes.

They also raised concerns that allowing the conversion to take place could set a precedent for similar conversions of agricultural buildings in the area - and the size of the building made it likely that there would be future conversion work.

Planning officers are recommending that councillors remove the usual permitted development rights, to prevent further extension. They also recommend further planning conditions, including the building of dry stone walls on the site boundaries before the building is occupied as a house.

The plan will be debated at the next meeting of Keighley Area Planning Panel at Keighley Town Hall, on Thursday, September 4, starting at 10am.