DEMOLITION of a pub which began last week is unlawful, according to the Campaign for Real Ale - which claims the council has either ignored or forgotten about a change in the law protecting pubs from demolition without public scrutiny.
Demolition work on the Black Bull, Stairfoot’s landmark pub which dates back to 1773, started last week when the council told the Chronicle it had given the go-ahead for it to be cleared despite no planning application having been submitted or the intention to demolish it having been made public.
The council initially said publicity requirements ‘differed’ from those associated with a planning application, a reason why a report which usually allows members of the public to lodge objections had not been seen by Barnsley-based CAMRA members.
Under a previous law, site owners could write to councils expressing their intent to demolish buildings, which effectively fast-tracked the process but a CAMRA campaign resulted in the law being changed.
Paul Ainsworth, of Barnsley CAMRA, said: “Until July 2017, planning permission wasn’t needed to demolish a pub like the Black Bull. All a developer had to do was to apply to the council for consent under the Building Act, which was basically a formality and to which no public objections could be raised.
“After vigorous campaigning, the law was changed so that planning permission is now needed for a pub’s demolition. Sadly our council didn’t seem to realise this, despite CAMRA writing to all councils last summer reminding them about the new legislation.”
The pub, on Grange Lane, was until its April 2017 closure a popular haunt which had been run by Darren and Karen Webster for eight years but CAMRA says its owners, EI - formerly Enterprise Inns - made a sudden decision to close it.
Last September, its new owners applied to the council for Building Act consent to press ahead with the demolition - something CAMRA says should have resulted in a planning application, and a subsequent period of public consultation, being launched.
Paul added: “The council should, of course, have told the new owners who were seeking demolition that they would need to get planning permission but evidently didn’t, hence the developers assuming they had the green light to knock the place down.
“As soon as we learned what was happening, we wrote to the council pointing out that the demolition was unauthorised and asked them to take action.
“The council has the power, in these circumstances, to serve an enforcement notice which could have stopped the demolition in its tracks.
“However, they declined to use these powers, presumably well aware that the developer would have correctly claimed that the council had given them the go-ahead in the first place.
“Because no planning application was submitted, the public had no opportunity to express opposition to the loss of the pub.
“The many sorrowful comments on the pub’s old Facebook page suggest that such opposition would have been pretty fierce and you’d like to think that the council would have taken due notice before making its decision.
“National planning policy is to resist the loss of valued community facilities like pubs unless there are very good reasons not to.”
CAMRA says it is now considering its next move, which could result in a formal complaint being lodged against the council, as well as a judicial review.
Paul added: “We can submit a formal complaint that the council has been derelict in its duties and it’s hard to see how this could not be upheld but at the very least we would hope that the council will learn from its mistake.
“In the meantime, Barnsley has lost yet another pub, one which could certainly have been viable in the right hands. Local residents and pub lovers generally feel very let down by their council.”
A Barnsley Council spokesperson admitted that demolition ‘technically requires planning permission’ - but ruled out enforcement action.
“The Black Bull is neither a listed building nor within a conservation area and is located in an urban area where there are a number of other drinking establishments within a reasonable distance,” the spokesman told the Chronicle.
“Therefore, even though the demolition technically required planning permission, in the council’s opinion there would have been no basis to refuse a planning application.
“In such a scenario, we are entitled to conclude that it is not practical to take enforcement action and given the specific circumstances, this is what we have decided.
“We do however recognise the important roles that pubs play within communities and our local plan does seek to prevent the loss of such facilities in villages and rural areas where their loss would be more harmful because of a lack of alternatives.”
