‘Don’t let our old pubs disappear and become shops’

Councillor Simon McDougall has urged Arun District Council’s cabinet member for planning to join him in lobbying Westminster to protect pubs from being redeveloped by retailers, who he claims are ‘running roughshod’ over planning procedure.

His call came last Wednesday at Arun’s development and control meeting where the latest plans to redevelop the former Barnham Bridge Inn, in Barnham Road, Barnham, into a Tesco Express were approved.

At the meeting, at Manor House, in Church Street, Littlehampton, Mr McDougall abstained from voting through the five minor alterations to the site.

He explained: “I have been abstaining on this and I will continue to abstain on this because I do not believe in the principle to be able to do this to public houses.

“One thing I would ask for this committee to take away, and is looked back in other areas, is for the cabinet member to write to all the local MPs in this area and ask them to start lobbying for a change in permitted rights which is taking away our public houses and allowing applications like this to be running roughshod over the planning system so that we can’t even put restrictions in on parking, highways issues or anything else.

“It’s wrong and it should be brought as a full application to this committee.

“Unfortunately, as the law stands at the moment, we can’t do anything about that.

“But I would ask that we seriously get the planning cabinet member to actually start taking this up at a national level because it’s not happening just here but all over the county and it’s happening more and more.”

James Dempser, a planning agent acting on behalf of Tesco, said that the former pub can be converted without any planning permission.

“Therefore despite some objections the applications you have before you it should be considered solely on how they would impact on the building itself,” he urged councillors.

Mr Dempser said Tesco had worked to ensure changes to the building were minimal.

Other councillors also voiced their concern about the application.

John Charles had a ‘major objection’ to the lack of parking provided at the site for customers.

He said: “That area will be a nightmare again.

“That road is a busy, busy road and with people backing out and backing off it’s going to cause chaos.”

In spite of all the concerns, councillors approved the minor alterations to the site, which included a new cash machine, advertising and signage, a rear fan and air-conditioning unit and a series of bollards outside the former pub site.