Controversial plans to convert closed pub into housing refused after residents’ objections

Applicants hoped to convert the pub into two three-bedroom dwellings, along with four new bungalows on the car park.

The applicants say in their planning documents that the pub has been closed and re opened ‘three to four times over the last three years,’ and that ‘due to the downturn in the economy and the rise in utility bills no operator could make it viable’.

Residents objected to the plans on the grounds of extra traffic, road safety concerns, overlooking and overdevelopment.

RMBC agreed, refusing the application citing overdevelopment as a reason.

The report adds that the scheme “represents overdevelopment of the site that is visually at odds with the surrounding urban grain of Rockingham Road.

“The conversion is considered to represent an unsatisfactory form of development that has an overdeveloped and cramped layout with poor living conditions”.