Mistake puts pub on hold

Plans to open a new £1 million pub in Shrewsbury creating up to 40 jobs have been put on hold after the application was processed under the wrong category.JD Wetherspoons still hopes to transform a unit of the town's Pride Hill Shopping Centre to create the firm's second pub in the town.

The plan for the pub in the building, which previously housed a branch of C&A, was due to be discussed at a borough council development control and environment committee meeting last night but was pulled out at the last minute.

Eddie Gershon, a spokesman for JD Wetherspoon, said the application was put in for the wrong use.

He said: "Wetherspoons need planning approval to cover bars and the planning officers put it in for an A3 use which covers restaurants.

"They put down the wrong use for the planning committee so it had to be cancelled.

"From our point of view, we are still very keen but an administration error has caused the planning decision to be delayed but that's life. We are waiting for a new hearing."

Wayne Barraball, the head of Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council's development control department, said: "The application was withdrawn because there emerged a complication over what they were applying for."

Mr Barraball said the application had to be re-submitted so the correct consultation could be carried out.

"It is a misunderstanding. It can be quite difficult as the boundary between the two uses is quite blurred and that's a planning problem which the Government is trying to clarify," he added.