A plan to turn a barn on a Herefordshire farm into a large house has reached the end of the road after it was rejected by a government inspector.

Rebecca Field applied a year ago to convert the steel-framed, partly open-sided barn at Treaddow Farm near St Owen’s Cross west of Ross on Wye into a two-storey, four-bedroom home.

It was to be highly insulated and would feature a lean-to glasshouse for food growing, while an adjacent area of low concrete walls and pens was also to be used for raised bed food production.

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Ballingham Bolstone and Hentland group parish council backed her application and there were no objections from the public.

The council’s ecology officer said the application lacked information on drainage in order to establish there would be no harm to the nearby Garren Brook.

But as often in such cases, the main issue was whether what was proposed was a conversion or essentially the building of a new rural house – which would go against county planning policy.

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Planning officer Elsie Morgan concluded that the plan did indeed “go beyond what might be reasonably described as a conversion, comprising ‘fresh build’ adding to the original agricultural building”, in addition to the drainage issue.

Ms Field appealed against the refusal of planning permission, claiming Herefordshire Council had approved conversion of other similar steel-framed barns in the area.

But now government-appointed inspector Juliet Rogers has backed the council’s refusal.

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With new roof areas below the existing roof structure, “the dwelling would be tantamount to a new dwelling located beneath the existing barn envelope”, she judged, while the proposed glasshouse extension “would result in harm to the character and appearance of the barn”.

Nor had that the character of the landscape and local distinctiveness “positively influenced its design”, Ms Rogers concluded.

And while the council had indeed approved conversion of a Dutch barn at nearby Upperfields Farm, Llangarron four years ago, this was to create tourist accommodation, so different planning policies applied, she added.