AN IMPORTANT listed barn could get a new lease of life, thanks to its new owners.

Author Minette Walters and her husband Alec bought the Grade II listed tithe barn near their Whitcombe Manor home late last year.

Now the pair have pledged to restore the building, which dates from the mid-18th century, and have applied to West Dorset District Council for listed building consent to restore the barn.

A statement supporting the application says that the thatched barn is in a poor state of repair.

It says: The barn is generally in a very poor state of repair. The thatch is in a serious state of deterioration.

Some of the roof timbers show signs of rot and deterioration and there have been very poor repairs and ad hoc props inserted in the past.' The statement, by the Brody Forbes Partnership, says that the floor close to the barn is saturated because of run-off from the thatch, the walls are cracked, the original slit windows have been blocked and the original doors are in a poor state of repair.

They are proposing that the roof be replaced, doors and windows reinstated and drainage installed.

A separate bat and barn owl survey carried out by Dorset Ecological Consultancy says that although there was some evidence that bats had roosted in the barn in the past there was no evidence that there were any of the creatures on the site.

The statement proposes that a further survey be carried out to see if bats have subsequently moved in for the 2007 season but it also reveals that a kestrel's nest has been found and swallows' nests were also evident.

It says that work to repair the barn should not start until September to protect the wildlife found on the site.

Mr Walters said: "My wife and I acquired the barn at the end of last year with the aim of restoring it as soon as possible.

"I would like to assure all lifelong Dorset residents that work will start at the earliest opportunity."

The barn is in the Whitcombe conservation area and next to the hamlet's now redundant Grade I listed church, where Dorset dialect poet William Barnes was curate.

Conservation officers from West Dorset District Council stepped in to protect the barn two years ago to force its previous owner to carry out work to protect the building.