PLANNING permission has been granted to convert the Grade II listed Winsford Cottage Hospital at Halwill Junction into accommodation for six people under the Landmark Trust for holiday use.

The plans show that the cottage hospital will be brought back to its original 1914 outer design whilst refurbishment to the interior of this historic building is carried out in a sympathetic way to create holiday accommodation.

The Landmark Trust, a charity that rescues important buildings that would otherwise be lost to deterioration, and carefully and sensitively restores them, will now manage the property.

Dr Anna Keay, director of the Landmark Trust, said: “There are buildings which are architecturally important, and there are those that actually changed people’s lives. Winsford Cottage Hospital is a rare example of a structure which is genuinely both. When I first visited, I was spellbound by its beauty, and also by the fascinating and fading chapter of social history that it represents. The building is declining daily and it would be tragic if it were to go beyond repair.”

Halwill Parish Council’s clerk Donald Osborne wrote to The Landmark Trust to express the council’s support for the proposal, explaining that the building has been an integral part of the village for many years and that he hopes the work will bring ‘incalculable benefit to the local community’.

He said: “Since its closure as a hospital the Winsford Trust has worked tirelessly on initiatives to preserve the building and make it an asset for the benefit of all. For many years the former Winsford Hospital has been at the social heart of the community, its rooms being used by many of the area’s clubs and societies, by the local doctor’s practice and indeed, for committee meetings of the parish council.

“It is now in a parlous state and barely suitable for public use. It has become clear that the building is in need of outside help if it is to have any future. The parish council feels confident that the Landmark Trust will be a safe pair of hands for the Winsford Centre.”

Devon County Council’s Holsworthy rural ward member Barry Parsons has congratulated those who are working to ensure the survival of the building, which he said many have ‘great affection’ for.

He said: “My association with the Winsford spans a number of years; indeed, since my becoming a district councillor for Torridge back in 2007. There is, without doubt, great affection for this building alongside that of those not only that have benefited from its facilities but those who have served as well as lived in our rural communities in and around Halwill. The Winsford Cottage Hospital has earned a rightful place in the hearts of many people.

“As a former trustee at the Winsford I know some of the difficulties confronting those whose only wish is, and has been, to ‘preserve and serve’. The ‘family culture’ existing within this building is long known and has shaped the lives of so many people over the decades.

“I congratulate all who have brought to the forefront the importance of this building to both our local communities and those with national interest in buildings of substance for which the Winsford is most certainly one.”

Before permission was granted, Dr Raymond Ward from The Winsford Trust expressed the trust’s support for the plan in a letter to the Landmark Trust.

He said: “I am writing on behalf of the trustees of the Winsford Trust to confirm the trust’s support for the Landmark Trust’s proposals for the future of the former Winsford Cottage Hospital.”

Work on the cottage hospital conversion to accommodation must be completed by November 2020.