Councillors in pub battle warning

Councillors were warned today the authority would lose a costly planning appeal if they pushed for stringent conditions on plans for £1 million pub in Shrewsbury.

Earlier this month JD Wetherspoon revealed it was considering appealing after its plans for a pub in the Pride Hill Shopping Centre were thrown into doubt.

The plans have been approved subject to the signing of a Section 106 legal agreement requiring staff to clean the streets up to 50 metres from the entrance and for Wetherspoons to link its proposed private CCTV system to Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council's town centre system.

But the council's senior solicitor Christopher Gordon is warning the development control committee the conditions are "unreasonable" and should be considered as part of a premises licence application.

In a report to the committee which meets on Tuesday, he says: "In a Section 106 agreement, obligations to be fulfilled by an applicant cannot be forced upon an applicant by a planning authority.

"These obligations can be present only if agreed by the applicant. If a planning authority still seeks to impose obligations on a S106 agreement then this imposition will be 'ultra vires', or in other words beyond the power of the authority.

"Thus the applicants would certainly make a successful appeal against the imposition and would be awarded the costs of the appeal. These costs would have to be paid by the planning authority."

He is recommending approval with the conditions previously approved but without a Section 106 agreement or refusal giving "sustainable reasons".