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DC Casebook: Housing: Conversion - Snooker club loss ruled policy-compliant

Housing conversion

Planning, 22 August 2008

An appellant who claimed that a local plan policy did not preclude the conversion of a snooker club on Teesside into four self-contained apartments has won backing from an inspector.

The appellant accepted that the local plan policy sought to retain community facilities in the town. However, he argued that the policy applied to youth centres, churches and church halls, education and health facilities, libraries and local shops and there was no objection in principle to the conversion. The inspector agreed with this analysis, finding that the policy did not apply to the loss of valued leisure facilities.

In any event, he reasoned that dismissing the appeal would not necessarily secure the club's long-term future because this would involve a commercial decision on the part of the appellant, who controlled the whole site. He also felt that the council's policies on preventing subdivision of dwellings into smaller units of accommodation did not apply because the premises were not already in residential use. He found that the impact of the scheme on a conservation area and local roads would be acceptable.

DCS Number 100-056-674

Inspector Graham Snowdon; Written representations.