The Crown planning appeal dismissed

The Planning Inspectorate has dismissed an appeal by Reepham residents Garron and Helen Monk in their plans to buy The Crown public house and turn it into a single family dwelling.
 

'The presented evidence does not show that last orders can be called at The Crown'

 
Following a site visit on 16 December, planning inspector Ahsan Ghafoor upheld Broadland District Council's decision of 28 February 2013 to refuse to grant planning permission for a change of use of the Ollands Road pub from a drinking establishment to residential.
 
In his decision, Mr Ghafoor explained that the main issue was whether or not the proposed development was consistent with local and national planning policies relating to the conversion of public houses.
 
However, he found that the proposed development would result in the loss of an important community facility contrary to these planning policies.
 
Mr Ghafoor noted that while the Kings Arms in the centre of Reepham is within “reasonable walking distance” of The Crown, it does serve a different type of customer; further, the Old Brewery House Hotel closed last summer.
 
The Crown has garden facilities for customers with children and a good-sized car park, and offered potential to develop its family-friendly environment.
 
Mr Ghafoor noted that the Joint Core Strategy for Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk has earmarked 100-200 new homes for Reepham, which would increase the need for local facilities.
 
Further, closure of The Crown would result in several job losses. “I find that the loss of a valued facility and environmental asset such as this would have a detrimental effect upon the long-term wellbeing of the community,” he stated.
 
The appellants had asserted that owners Punch Taverns were subsidising the current operation by reducing the annual rent from around £20,000 to £12,000 with a non-repair lease, and that the total annual barrelage has declined year-on-year since 2008.
 
However, the planning inspector said that as full trading accounts had not been submitted, it was difficult to draw any firm conclusions about the short, medium and long-term fortunes of the business.
 
He added that while the building is in need of some modernisation that may require investment, it did not appear that it is in need of “significant or extensive refurbishments”.
 
The Crown has been up for sale since May 2011 with a valuation of £300,000 excluding VAT, but there has been little interest generated for the public house as a going concern.
 
However, Mr Ghafoor said there was also no information presented to show how much the business is actually worth “yet it is still trading. The lack of interest does not sufficiently show that the business itself is not viable. The presented evidence does not show that last orders can be called at The Crown.”
 
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