Permission has been granted for a closed East Fellside village shop and tearoom to become purely a home.
Gerald Lee applied to Eden Council for change of use approval at Greystone House, which formerly housed Melmerby Stores, and the application was approved on Thursday by the district authority’s planning committee.
Melmerby Parish Council clerk Lisa Beken had written to Eden saying that no justification had been given for the loss of the village shop as a rural facility.
“The parish council believe that change of use should be refused on the grounds of retaining the availability of this valuable community asset,” she said.
However, Raymond Briggs (Con, Hartside), who said he had been asked by the applicant to speak on their behalf, gave the application his full support.
The property had been used as a café/tea room and post office from about 1987, but in 2005 planning permission was granted for the change of use of the post office/shop back to residential and for the barn to the rear of the property to be converted to holiday accommodation.
In 2012, Mr Lee purchased Greystone House and applied for planning permission for the ground floor of the property to be turned back into a shop and tea room.
Planning permission was granted and it was run as a shop and tea room for eight years until it ceased to operate in November, 2020, due to financial reasons.
In a statement, Mr Lee said: “We believe we have done all we can for the community to reopen and run a community business for nearly eight years and ensuring services continued via another local business.
“We have done all we can to protect, care for and enhance the building and the surroundings and we believe that delaying the sale and our departure any longer would be detrimental to ourselves and the buildings.
“Having closed the shop and given up our livelihood, we no longer have the ability to continue to love and support the buildings in the way we have and they require given their listed status.
“We believe we have been patient, put the needs of our community first and been willing and flexible to work together for the best outcome and we are now requesting that we are enabled to proceed with our change of use and give the building its best chance for the future.”
The meeting was told that following the closure of Melmerby Stores in November, last year, the nearby village bakery and tearoom had started to sell other goods which otherwise would have been sold in the village shop including bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, milk, cooked meats plus household goods and cleaning products.
Councillors were told the property, which included a barn conversion to the rear, had been unsuccessfully marketed for sale for at least six months prior to the change of use application being made.
Debra Wicks (Con, Greystoke) proposed that the committee should follow the officer’s recommendation to approve the change of use back to residential.
She said: “Whilst it is unfortunate that we will lose the facility, you can’t hold people to ransom to run a business which is non profitable.
“The building is a Grade II listed building, it will stay a Grade II listed building, and we have been assured there won’t be any alterations to the exterior of the building.”
Ian Chambers (Con, Eamont) said: “At the end of the day, it is not a charity, it’s a business and if it’s not viable, it’s unfortunate, but this is how things go.”
But Henry Sawrey-Cookson (Ind, Kirkby Thore) said: “It seems a sad day when we are going to lose a village shop. It will affect everybody in the village and surrounding countryside.”
