Cold Ash pub told it cannot keep up marquee

The Spotted Dog, Gladstone Lane, which has had the marquee in place for more than a year, has been refused retrospective permission to keep it up on a permanent basis by West Berkshire Council.
This week, the district council said that, although it allowed the structure to remain while the case was being decided, the landowners would be handed an enforcement notice regardless of whether there was an appeal.
Planners turned down the application on the basis that the marquee had an overbearing and obtrusive impact upon its locality and was detrimental to the character and appearance of the surrounding area.
However, the landlord Kevin Dobson, said that he would be appealing the decision, and that he intended to keep up the marquee until this process had come to an end.
He added that he was very disappointed with the district council’s decision as he offered the marquee to community groups for free.
He said: “If [the appeal] is refused then we will have to take it down. It’s going to affect community groups.”
He was also concerned that, without the extra space for pub users, his business would suffer, particularly as many pubs were closing.
“It’s an extra room for us that we want to be able to use to accommodate people.
“I totally disagree with the decision because you are not able to see it from the village, bar one [household’s] bathroom window.
“It's not doing any damage and 99 per cent of people who use the pub are fully behind it.”
Cold Ash Parish Council has stuck by its view that the structure was not in keeping with the pub building and was unsightly.
It has also received complaints about the level of noise when functions were being held, describing it as intolerable.
Sue Thompson, of Forge Cottage, Gladstone Lane, said that she would be happy for the pub to build an extension, but not to keep up the marquee.
She said: “This has been dragging on for too long. I’m expecting him to have to take it down.
“I thought that he would be under obligation to do so. I think any further application should be turned down.”
The situation has taken more than a year to go to the planning committee, as the pub previously withdrew an application for retrospective permission before it was heard.
West Berkshire Council spokeswoman Peta Stoddart-Crompton said: “Those responsible for the land and the unauthorised works will now be required to confirm their intentions in order to bring about a speedy resolution to this matter.
“If it is confirmed that they either do not intend to remove the above, or that they intend to appeal the planning refusal, a planning enforcement notice will be issued formally, requiring its removal from the land within a reasonable period of time.”