A COUNTRY pub may be split in half to provide two new homes for the area.

The High Cross Inn in Broughton may be halved to make way for two homes to sit alongside a smaller pub.

Duddon Parish Council has objected to the plan for the pub, which sits in a prominent hilltop position overlooking the Duddon estuary on the edge of the town.

The parish council believes that allowing the new homes to be created could lead to a permanent closure of the pub, and the building being converted entirely into residential property.

It is concerned that closing the pub would lead to job losses in the community.

Pub owner Chriscross Ltd is operated by local brothers Andy and Chris Burgess along with a few friends who bought the pub in 2000. They ran it for five years before leasing it to successive tenants.

The conversion plans include the demolition of a conservatory to make space for two storey and single storey extensions with slate roofs and rendered walls with part timber cladding.

The development has been designed to avoid adverse effects on the national park and is in line with local policies of sustainable development.

The pub car park would also be split into two sections.

The Lake District National Park Authority's development control committee is being recommended to approve the project.

The LDNPA said in a report that since 2000, the pub has suffered economically, and the changes would fund the improvements needed to keep it open.

A decision will be made when the committee meets next Monday, December 7.