PLANS to build six new homes at the site of a working farm at Beck Side in Carleton, have been lodged with North Yorkshire Council.

The scheme, for Beckside Farm, also includes the conversion of a barn to two dwellings, taking the whole proposed development to eight new properties. Also proposed is off-street parking and associated infrastructure.

In documents with the application, the site is described as an 'existing farm complex' in the centre of Carleton and enclosed on three sides by houses. Historically used to house cattle, the site is 'cramped' with insufficient space for larger vehicles while the buildings have reached the end of their useful life.

The plan is for the conversion of the traditional stone barn at the front of the site with six more made up of a terrace of five on the site of the cattle sheds and a sixth on the site of a relatively modern stone and timber building.

The proposed houses would all be two storeys, with their own 'modest' gardens, and with two off street parking spaces, plus two visitor spaces. It is proposed to develop only previously developed areas, with no plans to go into adjacent fields.

The applicant's planning statement argues: "The development will remove an existing working farm from the centre of the village reducing the potential for flies, odour and noise nuisance, to the benefit of residential amenity."