Owners of a Herefordshire private dental practice are seeking planning permission to also use its upstairs floor for the business – though the “change of use” took place years ago.

Christopher Brown and Chase Healthcare, joint owners of Warrendale Dental Care and its premises in Chase Road, Ross-on-Wye, say in their application (number 241780) that they have been seeing patients in the ground floor of the property for over 30 years.

Until 2016 the first floor of the detached building, in the town’s conservation area, was rented out to tenants, a letter with their application explains.

After negative experiences with these, the upstairs rooms were used to store dental stock and the practice’s paperwork.

“It unfortunately never occurred to us that we were, in fact, changing the use of this space from residential to business as we had no surgeries upstairs,” according to their letter.

The dental office and staffroom were then also moved to the first floor to free up more clinical space downstairs, enabling the practice to treat more patients.

“As a result, all three reception/bedrooms on the first floor have been in use by the practice for dental business purposes for the last eight years,” the letter says.

There have been no structural alterations to the inside or outside of the building other than the removal of an internal access door on the ground floor, it explains, adding: “There have been no issues with neighbours and the changes have not influenced the environs in any way.”

But given that local demand for dentistry in Ross “is not being met at present”, the practice now also want to use the first floor to treat patients – “providing further local jobs”, the practice partners say.

Enabling the “improvement and enhancement” of such facilities is in line with local planning policy, they add.

The move to regularise the planning situation, arising from what they call a “genuine oversight”, has arisen from moves by one of the partners, who is retiring, to sell their stake to the remaining partner.

Comments on the planning application can be made until August 22.