News Article Comments : Council planning coup for licensee on smoking area

A licensee has won a rare victory over council planners who ordered the removal of her outdoor umbrella.

Annmarie McCarthy appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, which quashed the enforcement notice that forced her to take down the heated umbrella at the Albion Inn, Wimborne, Dorset.

She now has planning permission for the umbrella for 15 months. Screens must be attached to two sides of the umbrella within a month.

The Planning Inspectorate ruled that people already used the outdoor area without a significant problem.

Planning permission would also not be needed for portable umbrellas or any portable heating or lighting equipment used, the Inspectorate said.

Lionel Fynn, of Horsey Lightly Fynn Solicitors and Town Planners, who represented the Hall & Woodhouse tenant, said: “At a time when pubs are closing at a rate of five per day, ‘live and let live’ would be a good motto for authorities to adopt. Pubs need all the help they can get at the moment.”