Regular readers will be well aware that the current owner of the Green Dragon applied to AVDC for 'Change of Use' from a pub to a residential dwelling.
AVDC rejected that application and the owner then appealed AVDC's decision to the Government Planning Inspectorate
Now we have some good news: that appeal to the Governments Planning Inspectorate has been rejected and therefore AVDC's original decision to reject the Change of Use has been upheld.
The appeal decision is attached to this webpage for those interested in reading the details
It is encouraging to see that objections from the parish council were taken into account (for once!), with the Inspector showing due regard to the argument that such a change of use can also be harmful to the conservation area
Other important inputs included those from the Green Phoenix Group and The Village Society as well as a significant number of individual local residents who expressed their concerns in writing.
Jamie Hall, from the Green Phoenix Group was delighted with the outcome and said: "Obviously the world is a very different place to when we first embarked on this journey and the hospitality industry has been particularly hard hit. Let's hope that, as the world slowly rights itself, a responsible owner and operator is found to cherish and preserve what is an important community asset."
What happens next?
What happens next is up to the owner and much will depend on his financial situation.
If he can afford to, he could carry on marketing the property with his restrictions and then come back in a year's time saying 'look, still no takers – and see how much the building has deteriorated", etc. If he needs to realise cash from his investment, he may feel it's better to remove his overage restrictions and get rid of it. Or he may try reducing but not entirely removing his restrictions.
The good news here, however, is that this is comprehensive dismissal of the Change of Use application for all the right reasons.
