Parish Council stops conversion of historic pub

St Margaret’s Parish Council instructed Richard Buxton Solicitors following a series of planning permissions which would have converted a listed 17^th Century Inn, who counted Noel Coward and Ian Fleming amongst its patrons, into housing resulting in the permanent loss of a well-loved community asset.

White Cliffs Hotel was primarily a pub/restaurant with accommodation; it was generally understood that the pub could operate as a viable business without the associated accommodation, but not the other way around. However, in March 2020, and during the pandemic, the owners of the hotel were granted planning permission and listed building consent to build several residential units in the car park of the Hotel. Although not within the description of the development, the application also sought a standalone condition to restrict access to the pub/restaurant to residents only, thereby ceasing its 140-year community use. This planning permission was not challenged within the six-week time period.

Within a year of the grant of the above permission, the owner made a further planning application and listed building consent for the conversion of the White Cliffs Hotel itself to three residential units, relying on the lack of viability of the hotel and restaurant. A viability report was provided by the applicant. At the time of the instruction of Richard Buxton Solicitors, these consents had been approved by committee, but no decision notices issued.

As, prior to the issuing the decision notice, it remains possible for the Council to reconsider the application, Richard Buxton Solicitors wrote immediately to the Council highlighting the lack of attempt by the Council to consider the viability of the inn should public access be reintroduced, either by the current owner or successor. It was also highlighted that the viability report relied on accounts solely during Covid years. In short, the applicant was dependant on the outcome of its previous application to constrict its viability. Following this letter, the Council produced a viability report but refused to consider the removal of the restricting condition and advised that decision notices would shortly be published.

We advised that it was open to the Parish Council to make an independent application under the s.73 process to seek to remove condition 15 from the first planning permission (i.e. the condition restricting public access) and the Parish Council swiftly made such an application. The application also constituted a ‘change of circumstances’ which the Council had to consider before issuing the decision notices and should result in the application returning to the committee for reconsideration.

On 12 August 2022 the Parish Council’s s.73 application to remove condition 15 was approved by committee, despite the Hotel owner’s opposition. Although this does not force the owner to re-open the hotel to the public, the condition can no longer be relied on to ignore the viability of the Hotel if full public access were restored. Given the viability of the Hotel was largely due to community custom, this is now a very difficult argument for the owner to win.  The Parish Council remain hopeful that the current owner, or a successor, can see the benefit of re-opening the hotel to the community soon, rather than the permanent loss of this community asset to housing.