An award-winning funeral directors which has been in operation for more than a decade from a suburban home has been forced to ask planners for retrospective permission to continue at the address.

Ernest Heal and Sons Ltd of 5, South Road in Broadwell, on the outskirts of Coleford, has been running the undertakers as a family business since 1929, the directorship being passed down from founder Ernest through two generations at the address.

In 1998, Neil Williams, who is married to the founder's grand-daughter, and Paul Heal, the founder's grandson, took joint control of the flourishing business from Ernest's sons, John and David, and the business includes a team of funeral directors and assistants.

With the expansion of the service to include a fleet of vehicles and a monumental masonry arm, the original home of Ernest Heal was swallowed up by the company in 2013 – but no permission was sought for the change and it remained as a mixed-use, residential property.

Paul Heal has now requested through agent Peter Tufnell, of Ledbury-based Tufnell Town and Country Planning, for change to a funeral director's premises and has told planners that undertaking activities have been carrying on from the address since June 2013.

Mr Tuffnell told Forest of Dean planners: "Historically, no 5 South Road had been a dwelling house, but that use ceased more than 10 years ago. This is a retrospective application that seeks to regularize the status quo."

A Design and Access statement told planners: "The residential element had been last occupied by a family member and the premises has been in family ownership and control for very many years. Due to the inter-relationship with the funeral director's use the residential use was only suitable for family occupation."

It added there was now "no need for such family accommodation".

It said: "The site includes land that had originally been the garden to the dwelling, but has been surfaced and used as a yard for parking, outside storage and general use ancillary to the commercial use, again for a period well in excess of ten years."

The statement advised that the former residential use was wholly unsuitable "given its inter-relationship with the commercial use, which includes other land, which is an associated yard, garaging, servicing, monumental masonry etc, ancillary to the primary use."

The use of the building also "provides an important social and economic function serving the Forest of Dean area," the statement said, and permission would signal a small but significant benefit for the community.

● Ernest Heal and Sons was named Regional Funeral Planner of the Year in 2016 by finance planner Golden Charter. Punchline-Gloucester.com also understands that the address is listed as the registered office for Ernest Heal & Sons Construction, which works in building development.