Changing the Rules to Make Policy Work for your Site – Walsingham Planning save a town centre pub

When the Council produced their new policy document for the town centre Walsingham Planning's client, Punch Taverns, had a prime site shown to be demolished and redeveloped as a part of a much wider redevelopment scheme.

The Royal Oak PH is worth far more to our client as a going concern than it would have been as part of the redevelopment.

Walsingham Planning made representations claiming the policy to be unsound.

These objections were eventually accepted by the Council and the policy was reversed, requiring the public house to be retained if at all possible with “all efforts to be made to integrate it into the development scheme..”

In due course this revision was accepted at Inquiry and the policy was confirmed in the revised form.

A town centre scheme has now been approved which retains The Royal Oak, allowing Punch to keep their valuable town centre opportunity.