For the chop: Former butcher’s to become three-bed home

A developer’s bid to convert a former village butcher’s and animal food shop into a home has been narrowly approved.

South Norfolk Council has approved plans for the Country Store, in The Street in Pulham St Mary, to become a three-bed house.

Councillors on the planning committee were torn on whether the site should be kept for employment.

The property was a butcher’s shop until the 1980s.

At a planning meeting, planning officials recommended the scheme for approval, saying the change was acceptable.

But Conservative councillor Lisa Neal said she felt “strongly and passionately” about protecting employment sites.

A speaker on behalf of the development said there had been no objections from neighbours and it had received unanimous support from Pulham St Mary Parish Council.

The planning committee chairman, Vic Thomson, cast the deciding vote after a tie.