Plans refused for Rotherham pub to be converted into seven apartments

Plans were lodged to convert the Sportsman on, Fitzwilliam Road, into seven apartments, made up of one one bedroom apartment and six two bedroom apartments over three floors.

The scheme would have seen the extension of the building to the rear and provision of a car parking and cycle storage also at the rear.

Documents submitted by the applicant state: “The proposal will retain the distinctive design and presence that the building already offers.”

It adds that “increasingly difficult trading conditions for publicans” has led to pubs closing down through lack of trade.

“The viability of public houses has been under threat for some time and this has only been exacerbated of late as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“The pub has been operated by an experienced landlord of 10 years.

“They have sought to maintain and manage the pub to the best of their abilities but despite this, profits have consistently fallen and left them with no option but to sell the premises.

“The property has been subject to a marketing campaign for one year and eight months.

“This has generated no interest from a continued public house use perspective.

“Whilst there were eight viewings and four offers, the only seriously interested party has been the applicant herein. All other offers were either not realistic or simply not pursued in the end.”

However, the propsal was refused on June 22.

A refusal notice states: “The Council considers that the proposed extension and conversion of the public house to 7 no. units would represent overdevelopment of the site and this leads to restricted outlooks on the western and eastern elevations which would be well below the minimum recommended distance of 12m.

“This would result in poor living conditions for future occupiers, which would be exacerbated by the lack of any outdoor amenity area.

“Consequently the conversion is considered to represent an unsatisfactory form of development that has an overdeveloped and cramped layout with poor living conditions.

“Discussions during the determination of the application have identified that it is not possible to support a scheme of this nature nor would any amendments make it acceptable.”

The scheme can be viewed on RMBC’s planning portal