Planning Inspectorate inquiry into Crooked House demolition delayed
South Staffordshire Council has reported that the Planning Inspectorate has chosen to delay its inquiry relating to an enforcement notice issued over the demolition of the Crooked House pub.
The West Country pub, famous for its slanting structure, was demolished on 7 August, two days after a fire.
South Staffordshire launched an investigation after noting that the council had not agreed to the demolition of the whole structure.
The council later issued an enforcement notice requiring the owners to rebuild the pub "so as to recreate it as similar as possible to the demolished building".
The pub owners then launched an appeal against the notice, triggering the Planning Inspector's inquiry.
In an update published today (30 April), the council said the planning inspector had recently accepted a request from the appellant request to postpone the inquiry.
The council said that the inspectorate chose to delay the inquiry to allow any potential separate court action relating to the fire to conclude.
"Notwithstanding this, the Inspector has noted that the inquiry should not be delayed indefinitely and has indicated that new dates will be arranged for some time in Spring 2025," the council added.
Staffordshire Police arrested six people suspected of involvement in arson since the fire. All six were released on bail.
The appeal inquiry was previously scheduled to take place in August of this year.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has since written to the Planning Inspector to complain about the delay, claiming there "is no good reason" for the decision.
The Mayor said that while he accepted that criminal proceedings are ongoing regarding the suspected arson, the proceedings should not affect the appeal "as the fire and the demolition should be treated as two separate incidents".
"There is no criminal proceedings nor involvement of Staffordshire Police in the demolition, only the enforcement notice served by South Staffordshire District Council for the alleged breach of planning control under paragraph B. 1 (c) of Part 11 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015," Street said.
He added: "This unnecessary delay sends an awful message for future enforcement notices - particularly those brought about by much smaller authorities ie a District Council in this case that the Planning Inspectorate will side with appeal applicants and leave you in limbo for a substantial amount of time.
"I'm sure you would agree that the last thing you would want is for authorities to shy away from enforcement action when they believe a planning breach has been committed, but I'm fearful that this decision to delay will do exactly that."
He called upon the inspector to reconsider the decision.
Calls for new laws to protect historic pubs like the Crooked House have since been made in Parliament.
Speaking in the commons chamber on Wednesday (24 April), Dudley North MP Marco Longhi posited a bill that would:
- require local authorities to maintain a register of heritage public houses in their area and to make provision in connection with the compilation and maintenance of such registers;
- make provision relating to planning applications in respect of public houses on such a register; to place restrictions on the sale of heritage public houses;
- make provision relating to the nomination of heritage public houses as assets of community value;
- make provision about the listing of heritage public houses; and for connected purposes.
The bill is scheduled to be read a second time on 21 June.
Adam Carey
