THE environmental planning team at Torridge District Council have requested a restriction on the hours under which construction work to refurbish Manor Offices in Holsworthy can take place.

It comes as the £723,000 scheme awaits planning approval for the refurbishment of the Torridge District Council owned building to take place.

As part of the consultation process, the Torridge District Council Environmental Protection Team have asked Torridge District Council’s planning department to impose a condition restricting the hours under which construction works can take place.

It says it is necessary to protect the interests of nearby residents while the works take place – and if imposed, would see construction limited to between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, 8am until 1pm on Saturdays and a total ban on construction work taking place on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Elsewhere, the district council’s conservation officer has also stated their response to the proposals.

They said: “There are no objections in principle to the upgrading of the building which has served as a focal point for the provision of services located within the main carpark area for Holsworthy.

“The revised plans indicate works including the removal of a section of wall within the main hall of the building. This is not ideal in terms of the loss of historic fabric and the layout of the building. However in previous uses the room on the right of the hall acted as a reception area and this is now needed as office space and a hatch is proposed as a point of contact.

“While this is considered harmful it would compensate for other lost floor area when the lift was installed and so provided the hatch retains an area of wall above and below the harm to the significance will be limited. This would allow the skirting and surviving mouldings and cornice to be retained . A section of this is needed for the file and can be requested from the agent prior to committee.

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“The overall scheme is considered acceptable in terms of sections 16,66 and 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation areas) Act 1990 where the works will preserve the building and its setting and the feature of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses with be retained with this scheme”