Pub landlord takes on 'petty' council... and wins

A PUB landlord has won his case against council officials who told him to pull down a marquee which is used by footballers as a changing room.

Ian Miller spent £400 on the marquee so that his pub’s Sunday league teams had somewhere dry to get changed and have a drink and food after their matches.

The marquee was put up on the side of the Village Tavern pub, in Joiners Square, and Mr Miller received no complaints about it from neighbours.

But Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s development control committee decided the eight-metre by three-metre marquee was an “eyesore” and authorised enforcement action to pull it down in August.

Mr Miller appealed against the council’s decision and now the Government’s Planning Inspectorate has ruled against the city council, meaning the marquee can stay at the Leek Road pub.

Mr Miller, aged 48, said: “To be honest I’m very surprised we have managed to overturn the decision, but very happy, too.

“I thought what the council did was petty. They didn’t really look at the situation and understand what the marquee was being used for.

“They just thought it was a smoking shelter, which it’s not. It’s a changing room.

“We had more than 300 people sign a petition to keep the marquee up and I’d like to thank them all because they showed what people really thought about it.”

The marquee is used by two of the pub’s senior football teams and a lads and dads team. Mr Miller has now called on the council to look at improving changing facilities at playing fields across the city.

He said: “Before we had the marquee the footballers would have to get changed inside the pub, which was not suitable because of all the mud and mess it would create.

“The teams which change in the marquee play at pitches off Trentmill Road and there are no changing facilities there for them to use.

“When pubs are having to put up marquees so their teams can get changed in a safe environment, then something needs looking at.”

In his findings, Government planning inspector, Robert Sexton, said the marquee had an “adverse visual impact” on its surroundings.

But he added: “Against this is the undoubted benefit to the local community of the continued use of the marquee. In the absence of any alternative changing facilities, it would be regrettable if the removal of the marquee waswere to discourage participation in active sport.

“I do not downplay the objective of achieving good design, but in this instance I believe the retention of the marquee would contribute to the delivery of other, broader Government objectives, including promoting social inclusion and community adhesion, and health and well being.

“Such harm as is caused by the contrasting appearance of the marquee is outweighed by its beneficial use in providing changing facilities for local football teams.”

Paul Edwards, development control manager at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said the council accepted the decision of the Planning Inspectorate.

He said: “The city council thought that the marquee design was not in keeping with its surroundings and rejected the planning application.

“However, on appeal the planning inspector gave more weight to the community benefits of the marquee and overruled the council to grant full planning permission.”