A PLAN to extend and improve a cottage on the Urchfont Manor estate has been withdrawn after the owners of the manor raised strong objections to it.

The proposals to add an extension to Fiddlers Cottage, a thatched Grade II listed building that was sold off by Wiltshire Council as part of the estate last year, were the subject of much discussion at Urchfont Parish Council on February 6 and had been recommended for refusal by planning officers.

But Coun Philip Whitehead, member for Urchfont and the Cannings, asked for the application be brought before last Thursday’s meeting of Wiltshire Council’s eastern area planning committee as he believed the extension would not significantly impact on the character of the property and not be prominent from the highway.

Applicant Rob Church said he had tried to work with Wiltshire Council’s planning officers to change aspects of his proposals to get approval by amending the plans to reduce its impact. But, he said, any further reduction would create a galley kitchen and not provide practical space for family living.

Eleanor Jones, who owns Urchfont Manor with her partner Chris Legg, objected to the plans on conservation grounds saying the extension would not be “subservient to the original building and will be highly visible from Blackboard Lane”.

Mr Church withdrew the application and there was no further discussion.