What's the difference between a shed and a barn?

‘What’s the difference between a shed and a barn?’ It’s a question the Planning Inspector asked the Cotswold District Council Conservation and Design Officer on Wednesday this week. We were attending the meeting set up for the Planning Inspectorate to ask us why we thought we should have received planning permission for the proposed new Welcome Building, and to ask the Council why they had refused it.

On this particular part of the discussion the Council had to concede that there was very little difference, and that they could have used the word barn instead of shed to describe the proposed building. Of course we didn’t ask the Inspector why he challenged the use of the word ‘shed’ (at these meetings Inspectors are all powerful – you do not question them about anything), but the Inspector seemed to be having some fun at this point, and we’re hoping that he felt it wasn’t a very professional planning term to have used.

We felt the meeting went well – we certainly had plenty of opportunity to put our case, and it did feel like the Council’s views and opinions were challenged more rigorously than ours. But of course they may have felt the same! As FOWA Trustee John Kendall wisely pointed out, he’s been involved in planning appeals before when he’s been sure he’s won and then the decision came back negatively.

It was certainly an interesting experience, and we were most encouraged that the audience for the meeting included a member of the public who we’d never met before and a local councillor (not unfortunately our Ward Member, Carolyn Nicole, she is opposed to the plans, and stood us up when we’d invited her to visit to the Arboretum to find out about them). Both of these people had given up their time, unsolicited by us, to come and make public their support for the Westonbirt Project and the Welcome Building.

So, the result? Well, I’m crossing everything and we’ll just have to wait and see, the decision will be with us in the next few weeks. And we’ll keep you posted of course.