COUNCILLORS have deferred a decision on plans to convert barns at a former hotel into a wedding venue.
The proposals have been put forward for the structures at Swinfen Hall.
But a meeting of Lichfield District Council saw disagreement with councillors unable to decide on the plans.
Members firstly voted on deferring the application over the lack of parking on the site.
Councillors on the planning committee failed to agree a deferral at the first attempt, but full refusal also failed to gain support – meaning thinly option was approval.
But with members tied at five for and five against, the casting vote went to chair Cllr Rosie-Harvey-Coggins who went against the application.
Further discussion saw the deferral discussed again – and this time it was approved, meaning the application will come back to the planning committee at a future date.
In total 13 people objected to the scheme, raising concerns over the noise that would be generated by the proposed wedding venue.
Resident Steve Creswell told councillors that those living nearby had already suffered due to marquees that have previously been used on the site.
He told the planning committee:
“We’ve endured a great deal of noise nuisance from weddings which took place in the marquees that they had.
“The loud music was unbearable, even with all the windows in my property shut and no amount of complaining to the hotel caused them to take any action to mitigate this.
“New parking for 200 cars will be situated less than 25 metres from some houses on our estate and the plans do not require them to leave until after 1am.
“With the increased operating hours, the increased number of attendees, the proximity of the noise to residents and the applicants lack of any of the noise pollution mitigation measures, we feel this would cause great disturbance to our quiet neighbourhood.
“If these buildings go ahead I don’t see why they wouldn’t seek to fill them 365 nights of the year, leaving the neighbours in an awful situation.”
Jess Horton, representing the applicant, told the planning committee that any income from the scheme would be used for the restoration of the hotel.
She said:
“This is a repeat application following refusal last year. The principle of this development has never been questioned by officers. The refusal was based on a single reason relating to biodiversity net gain compliance. This has been resolved with the applicant committing to planting 215 native trees on the land.
“The need for this development is to keep Swinfen Hall going as a commercial venue. Since the masterplan approval for the site in 2022, market conditions have seen a significant decline with the interest rates hikes, the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis all converging to stifle development of the tourism industry.
“The only way of maintaining Swifen Hall as a publicly-available asset is to generate income by other means.
“Put simply the hotel is no longer viable but the ongoing use of the site for weddings, events and officers is the optimal solution to secure the future of the venue.”
The site has previously hit the headlines after Lichfield District Council served an enforcement order over unauthorised work on the listing building.
