CONTROVERSIAL plans to turn a disused pub into a holiday centre have been given the green light.
The Stanhope Arms at Dunford Bridge is all set for a new lease of life after years of disuse now that a Peak Park committee has approved the scheme.
Members of the panel decided the project would be good for the area - bringing in tourists and boosting the local economy.
Dunford parish council chairman Allen Pestell said he was delighted the plan had been approved. “This has been needed for a very long time,” he said.
But objectors - who accept that some concessions have been made - aren’t so sure.
Local sheep farmer Sam Sykes said: “It will be good for tourists but tourists are not necessarily good for the area.”
The large site will now boast space for caravans, tents, camping pods and bed and breakfast accommodation as well as a cafe. There will also be stables, a tack room and public toilets.
The inside of the old pub, which has been empty for around 15 years, is to be renovated and old windows replaced with replicas of the originals.
Coun Doug Birkinshaw, vice-chairman of the Peak Park planning committee, said the scheme was changed considerably from its original application - mainly to meet the concerns of worried residents.
Although it is no longer a pub, the building will still be called the Stanhope Arms and ironically, while committee members were on a site visit, a couple stopped in a car and asked if they could get a drink.
The cafe will close at 7pm, which Coun Birkinshaw thinks is early for summer months. “There might need a rethink on that,” he said, adding that the grounds are to be enhanced and WCs provided as none are available at present.
“There is a lot of money going into this,” he said.
The initial application was met with a flurry of objections, but after changes were made planning officers recommended approval.
“Members raised some minor points but the decision was unanimous,” said Coun Birkinshaw. “This will be good for the area, making that end of the Trans Pennine Trail more attractive. And visitors will have toilets and water which they don’t have now.
“When this first cropped up I thought there might be trouble, but the members were all for it. The local economy should get a real boost.”
Coun Pestell said: “I very much welcome this. It is badly needed and will bring employment. It’s an excellent scheme and nothing but advantageous.
“I just hope that eventually it will revert to being a pub.”
Mr Sykes said conditions he asked for to safeguard the boundary with his land had been agreed.
“I don’t want people using my field as an extension,” he said. “So there will be better screening to deter litter and picnickers.
“With that in mind I am reasonably happy. Many points objectors raised have been answered.
“But I still think it is over-ambitious and over-development. We see the negative side of tourism. It’s a development for tourists not the local area. It won’t create many local jobs or put money into the local economy.”
The Peak Park planning committee is made up half of councillors and half of people who are appointed such as parish councillors and experts in areas such as archaeology.
