Agenda item

Resolved:

The Committee agreed to refer the following to the next available Mayor & Cabinet meeting:

The Committee should be provided with updated details on the status of the article four directions and asset of community value listings that have been placed on the Baring Hall Hotel and Windmill pubs. This should include information about any on-going compensation claims or legal cases relating to these pubs.

The Committee should be provided with detailed information about how compensation for the owners of premises under an article four direction will be decided upon.

Claire Gray (Principal Planning Policy Officer) introduced the report and highlighted the following key points:

·         The Planning Inspectorate has examined the Development Management Local Plan which relates to pubs and found it sound.

·         The Development Management Local Plan will be formally adopted at an upcoming Council meeting after which it will form part of the Council’s policy framework.

·         The policy is now set and is valid up until 2026, but will be reviewed as part of further reviews of planning policy in the future.

·         Planning policy allows for permitted changes (permitted development rights) of use that do not require planning permission. For example, pubs can be changed to a retail use, café, restaurant or form of business use (such as estate agents or legal premises) without the need for a planning application.

·         The government is currently consulting about changes to the permitted development rights, although current proposals do not directly relate to pubs. Other planning related actions, including local listing and article four directions are available to protect pubs. An article four direction can remove all permitted change of use and can be applied to individual premises or blanket across the whole borough or areas of the borough.

·         Other planning related actions, including local listing and article four directions are available to protect pubs. An article four direction can remove all permitted change of use and can be applied to individual premises or blanket across the whole borough or areas of the borough.

·         Using article four does carry risk, as the Council could be at risk of a compensation claim by the owner of the article four property. The compensation would be for the loss of permitted development use and loss of the opportunity of profiting from exercising that right.

In response to questions from the Committee, Claire Gray and David Knight (Planning Policy Officer) provided the following information:

·         The exact measure for calculating the liability of the Council for imposing an article four direction is unclear, but would likely be based around the potential loss of value.

·         Officers would only look at how a pub has been marketed before being disposed of if a planning application is submitted. The information required about the marketing of the pub would need to form part of the application.

·         In theory it would be possible to place a blanket article four direction across all pubs across the borough. However, no-one else in the UK has done this and a lot of evidence would be required to carry this out and for it to stand up to challenge. It is likely the work required would be the same as to place an individual article four direction on each pub.

·         Any land attached to a pub, such as a car park, and its usage would need to be addressed as part of the viability report submitted as part of the application.

·         While accessibility is not explicitly considered as part of the viability report, this could be considered for addition when planning policy related to pubs is reviewed.

·         If there was a proposal to change a pub to a cinema it would require planning permission. The viability report would form part of the basis of any decision.

·         If the usage of a section of the pub is changed then permission is required.

The Committee then discussed:

·         The status of the Windmill pub

·         The status of the Baring Hall Hotel pub, including that the previous owners of the premises were seeking compensation from the Council and the need for further details.

·         The lack of clarity in how compensation related to article four directions is decided upon, especially around how far back compensation claims can go.

Resolved:

The Committee agreed to refer the following to the next available Mayor & Cabinet meeting:

The Committee should be provided with updated details on the status of the article four directions and asset of community value listings that have been placed on the Baring Hall Hotel and Windmill pubs. This should include information about any on-going compensation claims or legal cases relating to these pubs.

The Committee should be provided with detailed information about how compensation for the owners of premises under an article four direction will be decided upon.