Concern for cafe proposal

A misunderstanding of planning rules led to a hotel owner making improvements without the necessary consent.

Mrs Suzanne Edgington thought her successful application to convert The Old Vicarage, Southwell, into a hotel also allowed her to open a restaurant and coffee shop.

She told Southwell Town Council: “When we started advertising for the hotel we were contacted by the district council asking us what we thought we were doing.

“We were very shocked and surprised when they said the hotel classification did not mean we could have a restaurant and coffee shop.

“My response was that we are a hotel and we have to have these facilities so they said we needed to apply for planning permission.”

The retrospective plans were discussed by the town council and no objections were made.

They include using part of the building on Westgate as a restaurant and coffee shop, the formation of parking areas, a decking area and hot tub, and re-roofing a conservatory.

Mrs Edgington said the hot tub and decking area had been installed while using the building as her home.

She said: “We were told we didn’t have to include it but we should just to be on the safe side. It would cost us a lot of money to have it removed.

“As for the conservatory, when we first moved in we were going to knock it down because it was in a very bad state but we found out it was actually funded by the nurses who worked in the building when it was a care home so we decided to amend our application to put a new roof on it.”

Mrs Edgington said they had replaced the tarred drive, which was in poor condition, with gravel.

Residents at the meeting raised concerns about noise and the use of the hot tub.

Mandy Pritchard, of The Paddocks, said: “You can see the hot tub from my property and my concern is that my children can see it.”

Mrs Edgington said the hot tub would only be used for a few hours in the late afternoon by hotel guests.

A councillor, Mrs Beryl Rimmer, said she understood the residents’ concerns but thought Mrs Edgington had done her best to address them.

Mrs Beryl Prentice said there was a need for a high quality hotel like The Old Vicarage.

She said: “There was an overwhelming welcome for the initial application when we received it last year and I still think this is a huge benefit to the town.”

But the council chairman, Mr Andy Gregory, said: “When we first received the application it was wonderful to see that this was going to be used in the context of providing a much-needed facility, but I think it has got too big.

“Everything with this application seems to have been done retrospectively and instead of rushing, it should have been thought out and done properly.

“Once we start accepting retrospective planning applications we make a rod for our own back.”

Mrs Prentice asked for a condition to be attached to any consent that would limit the use of the hot tub to between 4pm and 6pm.

The final decision will be made by Newark and Sherwood District Council.