A Keswick guest house owner has won planning permission to also run his business as a holiday let.
James Lamb, of Cumbria House in Derwentwater Place, successfully gained change of use planning permission from the Lake District National Park Authority’s development control committee.
Mr Lamb wanted flexibility over how he ran the business, which required consent from the national park.
Keswick Town Council, as a consultee in the process, had opposed the change because it was not clear how the property might be managed.
Town councillors have objected to a big increase in large properties in residential areas of Keswick being allowed to switch from an owner/operator-run B&Bs or guest houses, into “unmanaged” holiday lets.
The concern has been that if there are no on-site staff to keep a check on guests, then anti-social behaviour problems can occur and affect neighbours.
In a report to the committee, LDNPA planning officer Laura Rogan addressed this point.
She wrote: “A holiday let, a dwelling in permanent occupation or a guest house can all be occupied by persons who behave well or behave poorly…it cannot be safely concluded that changing the building from one type of holiday accommodation to another would be likely to result in demonstrably different levels of activity, or give rise to an increased likelihood of unneighbourly or anti-social behaviour.”
Committee chairman Mark Kidd told the committee that the “flexible use” arrangement would allow Mr Lamb to run the 10-bedroom property as either a guest house, a holiday let, or a holiday let with the option of on-site manager’s accommodation.
Committee member, Linda Jones-Bulman, asked, if in light of the concerns raised, whether there would be a manager or caretaker on site at “all times”.
Ms Rogan said that question had not been asked, but there was provision in the conditions of the permission for a manager’s accommodation at the property.
Ms Jones-Bulman pointed out that this left the matter of on-site supervision entirely to the discretion of the business owner.
Member Richard Outhwaite recommended that the application be approved in line with the planning officer’s recommendation. Member Tiffany Hunt seconded it and said it was a “straightforward” case.
At a meeting of Keswick Town Council in June, Mr Lamb said there could be occasions he was on site but not all the time.
He said the guest house had operated as a “hybrid” for five years without any problems from guests, and that two other nearby businesses ran their businesses the same way.
