The owner of a pub in Wall has been granted approval for alterations to the building despite objections from local councillors.
Craig Chance, from The Trooper on Watling Street, applied for retrospective planning permission for two Juliet balconies, but Wall Parish Council said it felt the new uPVC window surrounds weren’t in keeping with the building’s locally-listed status.
They called for the frames to be replaced with timber ones in order to bring the scheme more in line with its historic setting and the wider Wall Conservation Area within which its located.
The Trooper is classified as a non-designated heritage asset, and therefore does not have protected status beyond its local listing.
A planning officer at Lichfield District Council said:
“The changes cause no harm to the visual appearance of the building.
“There’s a neutral impact on the historical significance of the building, and there’s no impact on archaeology.
“All that together results in a recommendation for approval – with a condition to say the changes have to be retained as they have been installed.”
Lichfield District Council planning officer
Wall Parish Council felt the approval might set a bad example to people who follow the rules and wait for approval before carrying out work.
Parish clerk Pam Salter said:
“Wall Parish Council is extremely concerned that this is an incident of retrospective permission being sought by the owners of The Trooper.”
Pam Salter, Wall Parish Council
Ward councillor, Cllr Janice Silvester-Hall also spoke out against the alterations.
She said it seemed unfair that the application had been submitted after the work had already been completed, as she knew other people locally who were waiting for applications to be processed before starting work on their proposed developments.
Cllr Silvester-Hall also said the application claim that the site couldn’t be seen from a public highway was “entirely false”.
Applicant Craig Chance told the council’s planning committee he has owned The Trooper for 14 years and that the alterations have helped give the pub more room internally.
“The work was done during the lockdown period to give us a more open space in the building, which is something The Trooper didn’t have.”
Craig Chance, The Trooper
He said around 80% of houses in the vicinity of the building that are visible from the street have uPVC windows – and suggested they should be made to replace their windows if his application was turned down.
The planning permission was eventually granted by seven votes to one at a meeting of Lichfield District Council’s planning committee.
