OWNERS of a backpackers' hostel are seeking permission to build a large conservatory - 16 years after they were forced to demolish a similar one built without consent.

OWNERS of a backpackers' hostel are seeking permission to build a large conservatory - 16 years after they were forced to demolish a similar one built without consent.

Planners are being asked to consider the project for the grade two listed former vicarage Seven Oaks in Trimley St Mary.

Larry Graham and his wife, who have a five-year licence to operate the property as a house of multiple occupation for 34 foreign immigrant workers, previously built a conservatory in 1992 when they ran the building as an old people's home.

However, they failed to ask Suffolk Coastal for planning permission.

Despite pleas from the elderly residents to keep their “wonderful room”, councillors decided the conservatory dining room was “totally inappropriate” and spoilt the character of the building in Church Lane.

They then ordered Mr Graham to have it torn down - and he was left with no option but to remove it.

Now he wants to create a similar conservatory for the hostel residents to dine in, and this time is going through the proper planning processes and hoping for a better outcome.

Advice has already been received from a council planning officer and a meeting held on site.

Agents Ashton Design Company, based at Rendlesham, acting as agents for Mr Graham, have submitted proposals for the five metre by four metre room. The project will involve alterations to the interior and exterior of the building.

Michael Ashton, of Ashton Design, refused to comment on the application and Mr Graham was not available when the Evening Star called at the property.

Should Seven Oaks be allowed to have its conservatory? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk