PROPOSALS to divide a historic site in Portishead have been met with concerns from residents.

A planning application has been submitted to convert a barn at Court Farm into a four-bedroom home.

The High Street farm, one of Portishead’s much loved landmarks which includes a Grade II-listed farmhouse, barns and agricultural land, was sold in 2010. Campaigners failed to secure the farm as a heritage centre despite putting in a bid of �500,000 for the site.

Portishead Town Council expressed no objections to the recent development proposals sparking anger amongst residents.

Speaking at the April council meeting, High Street resident Gwyneth Singer accused the council of going back on their word. She reminded members they had previously passed a resolution agreeing to protect the site from being divided up.

Another resident Rita Baker says she is unhappy at the proposals to break the site up and remove the name Court Farm. The barn is to be named Springfield Farm and the farmhouse Tower House.

Chairman of Portishead Town Council planning committee, Peter Burden said: “The committee has agreed that the proposal for the barn is an acceptable solution to a difficult problem and it welcomed the imaginative design which will primarily be a family home.”

If the plans are approved, the conversion will include bedrooms on the ground floor with living accommodation above. There will also be new fenestration, a balcony on the north elevation and other alterations and repairs carried out. A new boundary wall will be constructed dividing the barn from the farmhouse.

Roger Whitfield, a member of the Save Court Farm campaign group, said the group is currently looking at the plans in detail before making comment or any representation to North Somerset Council.

Plans for the barn can be seen on the North Somerset Council website.