RESIDENTS of a Cumbrian village are up in arms about an alleged 'non-stop stream of abuses and infringements' of planning laws by the owners of a pub.

The Brown Horse, in Winster, has been granted retrospective permission for the construction of a utilities building and two underground gas tanks, associated with the siting of eight timber holiday lodges in the pub grounds - permission for which was granted in October 2021.

Crook and Winster Parish Council stated in a letter to the Lake District National Park Authority: "The applicant continues with works without the required planning permission being granted by the LDNPA, and the significant lack of planning control enforcement at this particular site is aiding the applicant to install whatever they want, and further development of the site continues to go unopposed by the LDNPA.

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"The development is not consistent with the landscape character and is most certainly not limited expansion of an existing business."

Another resident's letter of objection said: "The first issue is the elevation of the units - rather than dig out and drag forward the back half of each pitch, they have built block foundations, which elevate them above the three metres from the ground level legal maximum for a non-pitched roof unit.

"Allowing them to retrospectively raise the ground level will of course do nothing to lessen their hideous visual impact.

"The second and bigger issue is the unresolved one of drainage.

"Water will flow downhill and this ultimately means into the field which contains the septic tank - a tank which has been incapable of dealing with the existing needs of the pub, as anyone visiting during this warm spell could testify.

"The addition of (potentially) 30 more users is unimaginable, and a plan needs to be in place before any further works take place."

The report compiled by planning officer Neil Henderson said: "Much of the hostility towards this application seems to arise from dissatisfaction with the scheme previously approved, the implementation of that scheme, and the fact that work on the development under consideration has already commenced.

"Not all decisions on planning applications will be popular with everybody but the permission exists and needs to be taken into account when considering the baseline for determining subsequent applications.

"I do not consider planning permission should be refused solely on the grounds that it is partly or wholly retrospective in this case."

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