Heritage concerns overruled as Gloucestershire museum extension approved

A small museum in south Gloucestershire has been given permission by councillors for an extension, despite the local authority’s conservation officer recommending refusal.

Frenchay Village Museum is classed as ‘curtilage listed’ as it is a former lodge for the nearby Grade II-listed Frenchay Park House.

The local history museum had previously submitted a listed building application to demolish an existing single-storey extension and garage, replacing it with a single-storey rear and a two-storey side extension with disabled toilets.

A refusal was recommended due to the “substantial harm” it would cause to the historic importance of the former lodge.

The Frenchay Tucker Society, which runs the museum, subsequently made some changes to the designs, which a meeting of South Gloucestershire Council development management committee has voted 7-0 to accept.

Architect John Page said: “The extension has been designed with every care to make sure that the original lodge retains its identity and to ensure its scale and pretty appearance are not smothered by the new extension.”

Ward councillor Liz Brennan said the application “proposes removing an eyesore” and would have “considerable community benefits that the museum brings to our residents and the wider area”.

She continued: “The museum, supported by dedicated volunteers, serves as an invaluable resource. It allows our community, including local schools, to engage in and learn about the history of Frenchay, a history that would likely be lost without this museum’s efforts.”

She added that as a “modern housing development now surrounds the gatehouse lodge… the significance to the main house is no longer visible”.

As the newly approved plans are slightly different to the earlier plans also approved by the committee in 2022, a new planning application will now need to be submitted by the museum.