Yaxham Mill has won planning permission to change an office, laundry, store room and foyer into a two-storey home for an employee's parents.

Councillors at Breckland Council's planning committee today unanimously voted to overrule officers who advised them to reject the plans because they would create a dwelling in the countryside.

Councillor Gordon Bambridge said: 'I felt it was a small business in the area and I think it is the ethos of Breckland that we support small businesses in this sense.'

He added that he was not sure objections from Yaxham Parish Council and Norfolk County Council highways team about poor access for vehicles would stand up to scrutiny.

The site of the proposed home is just outside Yaxham, near Dereham, and the mill has three businesses – a cafe, restaurant and bar, a terrace of self-catering cottages and Yaxham Mill itself.

The new home would be used by the parents to help run the bed and breakfast operation at the mill.