A COUPLE from Halton Gill will be allowed to finish work carried out on their listed building despite the fact it was started without planning permission.

Michael and Mary Myers, of Angram Farmhouse, hit the headlines earlier this year, when they faced fines of up to £20,000 for carrying out the work on their grade II listed building.

The historic 18th century farmhouse has been in Mrs Myers' family for at least a century but was rented out for many years.

In February 1999, it was brought to the national park authority's attention that works were being carried out at the farmhouse without listed building consent.

When the couple submitted a retrospective planning application in June, it was refused by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority's planning committee. But members then had a rethink.

However the saga was revisited once again on Tuesday with an application for listed building consent for internal and external alterations.

Members were asked to decide whether they should allow the unauthorised work to be completed.

Most of the alterations such as installing a modern cooker into an original fireplace were uncontentious but the laying of concrete floor slabs and inserting a new window in the rear elevation were thought by some members to be unacceptable.

Graham Darlington, building and conservation officer, said just because work had started, it did not mean the work should continue.

But member John Sayer said: "The strange thing is practically every house in the dales like this has been improved in some way."

He added there had been no original flag flooring when the Myers had taken over the house. "Do we really expect Mr Myers to put something back which was not there when he got there. I think that's totally unreasonable," he asked.

He added that without a window, the house's landing was in complete darkness and quite dangerous.

Fellow member Stephen Butcher said: "The damage was done years ago, not by Mr Myers. To make him replace the stone floor is unfair."

However, Deborah Millward said the best had to be made of a bad job.

She added a lot of work had already been carried out which had detracted from its value and members should be trying to do their best for the listed house.

And Nigel Watson added he could not believe members were using arguments to tamper with a listed building.

"The idea we can tamper with a building willy nilly because we live in the days of electricity, well I really do despair sometimes."

Members agreed to give listed building consent to all the alterations.

The decision will be referred back to the next meeting of the authority's planning committee for confirmation.