PLANS have been approved for the conversion of Kilve Stores and Post Office into a five-bedroom house.

Owners Matt and Charlotte Hirst reluctantly submitted a planning application last summer because the business was proving to no longer be viable.

Mr and Mrs Hirst were contemplating closing the business after 17 years, but did not want to leave the village.

They put it on the market for sale through Christie and Co priced at £645,000 but after more than a year were unable to find a buyer.

The planning application was to convert the shop premises to a living room and dining room to be used with the existing five-bedroom accommodation.

Parish councillors did not express any view on the application, telling Somerset Council they were ‘neutral’ on it.

The village’s Somerset Cllr Rosemary Woods said she found it sad that ‘yet another of our villages will be losing its Post Office’.

However, Cllr Woods said: “But, if no new owner can be found to take this on in its present form, it has been marketed for over a year as I understand.

“When visiting Kilve I usually find that the car parking is being utilised, therefore I always understood that it was well used.”

Cllr Woods said she felt sure a five-bedroomed house positioned as it was in the village would soon find a use.

She said she would remain neutral on the application along with the parish council.

Somerset Council has not published the reasons for granting planning consent.