Butlers Farm, Finningley

Farm buildings and paddock to be lost for the development of 5 dwellings near Doncaster:

A charming farming house and single-story courtyard stable block are to be demolished and replaced with a small cul-de-sac. The farmhouse has been left empty for some years and is supposedly beyond repair (as the comments of the Civic Society would suggest). I’m not convinced. I would rather see the farmhouse divided into two dwellings, the stables converted into two-story mews dwellings, and a further dwelling adjacent ot the road. That would be how a farm would naturally densify, and would offer the same 5 new dwellings in an organic way.

Finningley is/was a quintessential village, with a green, pubs, and a few clusters of farm buildings. Its a shame to lose some of this original fabric. Maybe we need to start letting those with some extra land develop it themselves, slowly, dwelling by dwelling, rather than leaning on the usual housebuilders to acquire farmland and develop it in this generic way.