Plan to convert Shropshire village pub that has been shut for 10 years into home is refused again

A Shropshire village pub cannot be converted into a house, planners have again ruled.

Officials described the latest conversion proposal for the Cleveland Arms in High Ercall as representing an “unjustified permanent loss of a valued community asset”.

Since the pub, between Shrewsbury and Newport, closed in 2016 there have been several attempts to redevelop the site, all of which have been refused by Telford & Wrekin Council.

Referring to an inspector's ruling officials at the council have told applicant and owner John Hickinbottom that they are "not satisfied that the current application has materially altered those conclusions."

The Cotwall Road venue had been a part of village life for some 200 years but the village’s only pub was closed after structural defects were found.

Mr Hickinbottom's latest bid to change the pub met with resistance from locals, the parish council and Cleveland Phoenix Charity (CPC) which was set up to save the inn.

Some residents who live near the derelict venue had supported the proposed change as a way to improve the site.

Mr Hickinbottom hit back in submissions to planners, writing that he had tried to sell it as a pub, and that the costs of refurbishing the building were prohibitive.

Planners have ruled that the proposed conversion "would result in the permanent loss of a valued community facility within the rural settlement of High Ercall”.

Mr Hickinbottom had provided evidence of attempts to sell the pub, saying the only interest had been from developers. Documents showing costings for refurbishment work were also included.

Mr Hickinbottom wrote: "In the last decade nobody, including Ercall Magna Parish Council, CPC or Telford & Wrekin Council has been willing to commit to the purchase of the pub and bowling green and to fund their restoration for the community.

“I will not be investing a further £million-plus in this site in its current use class as a public house.”

But planners responded that the authority is "not satisfied that the applicant has demonstrated a lack of need for the facility, that all realistic opportunities for the retention of the premises in community use have been exhausted, or that an equivalent alternative facility exists to serve the needs of the local community”.

Mr Hickinbottom had referred to a part-time bar at the village hall being an alternative facility which also proved that there was a lack of demand in the village to sustain a pub.

But planners wrote that this was a point that a inspector had looked into.

Officials wrote that the inspector "concluded that the village hall community bar did not represent equivalent alternative provision”.

The planning inspector had also found that "it had not been demonstrated that the premises was no longer viable for public house or community use”.

Planners concluded that they were "not satisfied that the current application has materially altered those conclusions”.

"The proposal would therefore result in the unjustified loss of a valued community facility."