A Cambridgeshire pub that closed five years ago failed to demonstrate “that there is insufficient community support” to retain it, says a planning inspector who refused permission to convert it to three homes. Planning inspector S Pearce of the Government Planning Inspectorate upheld a decision by Huntingdonshire District Council to refuse the application.
“While the parish council may have had opportunity to raise the issue of public interest with the appellant direct, nevertheless, the evidence indicates that the parish council has nominated the public house through the Community Right to Bid as an Asset of Community Value,” he said.
“Consequently, the evidence submitted does not robustly demonstrate that there is insufficient community support for the continuation of the public house.”
The Buckden Road pub – that once temporarily housed Ukrainian refugees – stopped trading in January 2020.
Mr Pearce said the owners, given the length of time since the closure of the public house, were not able to provide any records of recent trading accounts for the period leading up to the closure.
“While an interested party asserts that the public house had struggled in recent years and tried several landlords and events, additional comments highlight that the public house was used by various community groups, including bell ringers, a garden club and a football club,” said Mr Pearce.
“As such, in the absence of substantive information, no meaningful assessment can be made in respect of the level of usage prior to the public house closing.”
Mr Pearce felt a main reason for continuing to retain its use as a public house was the Huntingdonshire Local Plan which strives to “maintain the sustainability, vitality and viability of settlements and individual neighbourhoods within market towns, to support local facilities and services and to provide for the needs of the local community.
“The policy outlines that local services and community facilities include, among other things, public houses.”
He said a proposal which involves the loss of a local service or community facility will only be supported where alternative provision is offered, that there is no reasonable prospect of the pub being retained or there is insufficient community support for its continuation.
And he said such a proposal must ensure “reasonable steps have been taken to effectively market the property for its current use without success”.
Mr Pearce said he had studied reports offered to him about the state of the licensed trade which found it to be vulnerable and highlighted a decline in drink-led pubs over 20 years to 2023.
But the same report also said that “food-led pubs and city centre pubs have been more resilient” only “limited evidence” had been provided to show the pub could not become viable once again.
Mr Pearce said the Dragoon had been marketed on three separate occasions “however, each marketing period has been brief, with the longest period from October to December 2021”.
In one instance whilst the evidence indicated no offered were received, the guide price had not been revealed to him.
Another listing, he said, resulted in three unique pub enquiries although “no evidence has been provided which outlines why the three candidates were not suitable.
“Consequently, based on the evidence provided, I am not persuaded that reasonable steps have been taken to effectively market the property for its current use”
He concluded that the loss of the public house “would not be acceptable, having regard to the development plan” and the appeal was dismissed.
