Plans to convert a restaurant on the outskirts of Highbridge into a new development of holiday apartments have been turned down by council planners this month.
The owners of the White Cottage Restaurant at 5 Old Pawlett Road in West Huntspill have applied for full planning permission for a “change of use from a restaurant to three self-contained holiday apartments and a managers flat while retaining the use of the commercial kitchen for external catering use and retention of letting bedrooms at first floor.”
But Sedgemoor District Council has turned down the application on grounds that it will cause negative economic impact.
A spokesman said: “The use of the existing restaurant as 3 self contained holiday apartments would not represent a development that would improve the quality or diversity of the tourism offer for the district. It will not provide significant job opportunities and would lead to the loss of the existing employment through the loss of the restaurant.”
“The proposal would not promote education or interpretation of the environment or increase the accessibility to the District’s tourists assets as it would not be linked to any such tourism use or facility. The proposal has not been supported by a robust business case demonstrating its viability or justification related to the loss of the restaurant as it has not been demonstrated that the existing business has no likelihood of remaining viable in the future.”
“The proposed 3 self contained holiday apartments within the existing restaurant building would be alongside an unrelated external catering business and would utilise the same entrance to the rear of the site as well as being separated internally only via new internal walls. This would result in a detrimental impact on the amenity of potential occupants of the holiday accommodation through noise and disturbance and therefore affect the viability of both businesses.”
