Residents campaigning to stop the only pub in their village from being turned into a house won an important battle this week.
On Wednesday, Eden local planning committee turned down a bid by the pub’s owners to develop it into a private residence.
Stephen and Deborah O’Donoghue had applied for change of use planning permission for the Belah Bridge Inn, Brough Sowerby, to create a market-led house.
Planning officers at Westmorland and Furness Council recommended the application be refused and were backed by councillors on its Eden committee.
Mark Lynch, planning manager, told the committee meeting at Penrith Town Hall that it would mean the loss of a “community facility” as the village only had one pub.
Mr Lynch said: “Any applicant seeking to remove such a facility has to prove three things. One, there’s no longer a need, or suitable, accessible alternatives exist; secondly, that it’s no longer economically viable; and thirdly, that the property has been unsuccessfully marketed for sale under its current use.”
Mr Lynch said not enough clear evidence had been provided about the pub being marketed for sale, including its price.
Councillor Graham Simpkins, chairman of the planning committee, withdrew from the table and vote, in order to address councillors as a member of the public.
Mr Simpkins, of Brough, spoke in favour of the O’Donoghue’s being allowed to turn it into a house after nobody had come forward to buy it.
Mr Simpkins said the couple had invested a lot of money in the pub and wanted to move on.
He said: “The people that own it can’t be held accountable forever. The place is just going to fall into disrepair. It had been marketed for sale. As a business it had struggled for some time. No approach has been made by the community to buy the facility. They did make an application for it to become an asset of community value and were not successful in that application.
“Basically, it’s a very nice pub, and has been in the past, but times have changed. There isn’t enough business for it and if the community wants it, why haven’t they come forward with a proposal to buy it? We’ve got three pubs in Brough already.” Mike Collins, chair of Brough Sowerby Parish Meeting, urged the committee not to allow the pub to become a house. He said 88 people of the parish, representing 75 per cent, objected to the idea of losing the pub, which is currently closed.
Mr Collins told the meeting that, less than two years after it was bought and refurbished, the pub was put up for sale in 2017.
He said: “Once gone, it will never be regained. Contrary to the owners’ claims, the pub did not close because of a lack of community support.
“It closed because it lost its chef and the owners were unable to recruit another of the same standard so they opted to close.”
Councillor Neil McCall, representing Eden and Lyvennet Vale for the Liberal Democrats, told the meeting: “I live in a small village and the pub closed down 10 years ago, to much distress. If we’d let it go, it would have been gone forever.
“The community did buy it but it took a while to get it going as you need the right people behind the scenes. If you’ve got those things in place, it can do an absolute roaring business.”
