Pitfalls of the planning laws
Far be it from me to say "I told you so" but a news story in last week's MA points to the pitfalls of the planning laws.
The decision by a Hexham landlord in 1999 to close his pub and turn it into a dwelling once again highlights a common misapprehension - that de-licensing a pub is simply a question of shutting up shop and buying armchairs. It isn't so simple, and he has been ordered to reinstate the property as a pub again.
The main problem is over gaining the required planning permission. Pub premises are in a commercial category under a specific use class in planning terms and consent is required from the local council if a change of this kind is required.
That consent is not always readily available, as many retiring licensees have found to their cost. It is often assumed that because many rural and village pubs have been lost as a result of closure on economic grounds, an application for change of use is a formality. But when it comes down to the last pub in a locality, the rules for planning authorities are slightly more stringent.
They have to be convinced that not only is the pub economically unviable as it stands, but that it would be so under any reasonable ownership. Clearly, if the council feels that a pub has been deliberately run down in order to "prove" that it is unviable, they will not necessarily be convinced that a change of use is desirable at the present time.
The fact that it is the last premises of its type in that particular location will make them reluctant to extinguish its planning use unless there is sound evidence that a change is necessary. Many applications have been refused because the planners are not convinced that "the end of the road" has been reached.
In this situation the feelings of local people do have some influence, although planning decisions are taken on other criteria as well.
The problem for many resident pub owners nearing retirement is that they would either like to stay in their pub or sell it at the best possible price and retire elsewhere. In the current climate, it is understandable that a pub with planning permission for residential occupation could have a better market value than an ordinary business.
