Plans to turn the former Mill School in Potterne into two homes have been approved by Wiltshire Council.

The Grade II listed former preparatory school closed after more than 50 years in March 2012 when it went into administration.

New owners Richard and Helen Pritchard applied to convert the southern mill house into a home for them to live in and turning the northern and central mill sections into a five or six bedroom house to be rented out as a family home or as a holiday let.

In addition, they also applied to change the use of the former brew/bake house at the front of the main building into a home office/study.

No objections were received to the application and one person expressed broad support for the plans saying they would be in keeping with the historic fabric of the building and the amount of traffic using Whistley Road would be less than when it was a school.

In her report granting permission Wiltshire Council, planning officer Rebecca Hughes said: “On balance and given the existing building is in a redundant state, officers would agree that conversion to residential use would be a preferable way forward for this building, which is likely to secure the long term future of this heritage asset and offer potential for improvements to the site environs.”