Mill conversion to dwelling at Gants Mill, Gants Mill Lane, Bruton

“Gants Mill is located just west of the town of Bruton, on the River Brue and falls within the Applicant’s landholding that comprises; a Cottage, a House, a Mill building (comprising original Grist Mill with Silk Factory extension and engine house forward wing) and associated outbuildings, plus approximately 45 acres of agricultural land spanning the valley, defined by Gants Lane and the parallel railway line.”

“The Environment Agency (EA) Flood Risk Map for Planning shows Gants Mill site partly in Flood Zone 3 (at high risk of flooding) and partly in Flood Zone 2 (at medium risk of flooding).”

“The Silk Factory, the seven bay long wing at the west end of the building, constructed in 1800, by Theophilus Perceval, a French silk throwster, was entirely redundant and abandoned by 1840. Theophilus was bankrupt just 30 years after building the large silk Factory and enhancing the site to include a fruit garden and vineyard. Others attempted to rescue the silk business but it failed.”

“The Local Planning Authority’s view is that this application presents a well- balanced and once in a multi-generation opportunity to secure the long-term preservation of the building and, an as sensitive conversion as possible of a significant heritage asset in the form of a Grade II* Mill.”

“The change of any historic building built to perform a specific purpose, in this case a Silk Factory built as an extension to an earlier Grist Mill, and a use that only persisted for 40 years, will inevitably require some physical change to enable it to be used for another use.”

“To notify The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (‘the Secretary of State’) that the Local Planning Authority is minded to GRANT planning permission 23/03192/FUL for the conversion of disused Mill buildings (part of) to a single dwelling house with staff flat and ancillary use of outbuildings, with associated demolition, alteration, extension, replacement of modern buildings, together with landscape, access and flood mitigation works at Gants…”