Another pub told to rip out decking
31 January, 2008
Thousands of pounds down the drain as council says outside space must go
A pub in Birmingham is appealing after it was told to rip up £9,000 worth of decking installed before the smoking ban.
The Digby Hotel in Water Orton built the patio on a concrete strip outside the pub in June in the hope of boosting business following the ban.
But council officers visited the site after a neighbour complained about noise. Licensee Sharon Cunningham then failed in a bid to win retrospective planning permission.
Last week The Publican reported that The Edge in Blackpool had to take out £2,000 worth of decking after council bosses said it was a health and safety problem.
Cunningham, who said it could now cost the pub £5,000 to remove the decking, was told the area was likely to cause “excessive noise and general disturbance” to residents.
She said: “I think it is very unreasonable. We are trying to run a business and it is very hard anyway at the moment with the smoking ban. The area wasn’t very attractive before and now the locals think it looks really nice. It’s very upsetting.”
She also offered to put up signs saying the area was not to be used after 9pm to minimise disruption to neighbours.
Assistant chief executive and solicitor to North Warwickshire Borough Council, Steve Maxey, said he sympathised with Cunningham’s position but the decision had been made on “public amenity grounds”.
He said: “It is the usual thing of balancing the needs of the business against the needs of the population around it not to be disturbed.
“The fact is if you need permission for something and you start building it in advance of that permission, then you put yourself at risk.”
Readers' comments
Whilst I sympathise with the Digby to a degree, the planning system has been around for decades now, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that they have to take it down it they built it without permission. Our planning department asked us to address potential noise problems while our application was being considered, and we made some simple adaptations that kept everyone happy. You wouldn't start serving alcohol before getting a licence, so what's the problem with getting planning permission BEFORE constructing something?
This once Great country is becomming more and more like Germany in the 1930's.
I really feel sorry for the people in your story we are having the same prblems with health and saftey they came in and stop all our acts afer eight years this will kill our busineess the Blair era will kill us all. How much does the heath and shafty cost the uk when they close hospitals can not equip any army not even with all the secret donations they are the bigest villans going. if we do not do something now we will all be out of business........
Wont be long befor councils ask landlords to remove chairs and stools, after all, someone may fall off or trip over them, perhaps you may even find that we may have to drink in silence, just like monks, as the noise is too much for neighbours to cope with. If you dont like noise, dont buy a house near a pub! But then they do tend to be cheaper, I wonder why?