Plans to add an enclosure around a seating area at a Lake District brewery have been given the go-ahead.
Members of the Lake District National Park Authority development control committee went against officers’ recommendations and unanimously approved proposals from Keswick Brewing Co to add an oak framed enclosure within the existing outdoor seating area at their site on Brewery Lane.
A design and access statement submitted by the applicant said the plans would improve trade opportunities.
The applicant’s agent, Peter Winter told the committee they could grant the application, confident there would be no adverse impacts on neighbouring properties or the local community.
Mr Winter added the outdoor area is usually cleared by 8pm so the applicants were happy for the committee to place a condition for the outdoor area to be vacated by this time.
The design and access statement said: “The proposed oak framed structure would provide year-round cover and having a permanent outside covered area gives more surety to staffing levels.
“The permanent structure will not increase the opening times for the business but will improve trade opportunities within the current operational times which will assist with the increased overheads and utility bills caused by the current economic climate.”
The outside area closest to the bar at present relies on the use of gazebos when the weather is poor or to provide shade when it is too hot to sit in direct sun but the gazebos can’t be used if it is windy, the statement added.
In a report prepared for the committee, planning officers recommended refusal.
It said: “The proposals would provide a highly usable and flexible space for customers of the brewery which is likely to be attractive throughout the year.
“The potential for increased and intensified activity in very close proximity to the boundary of the site and neighbours to it is likely to lead to an unacceptable increase in noise and disturbance over and above that which currently exists.
“The scale and location of the proposed shelter would lead to an overbearing effect and a loss of light to the ground floor windows of nos. 1 and 2 Brewery Lane Cottages.”
However, committee member Richard Outhwaite said: “I don’t feel the impact of the shelter on those properties to the rear is so significant to warrant refusal.”
He added if the condition suggested by the applicants were to be imposed there was no good reason to refuse planning permission.
Committee member Tiffany Hunt added: “One of the key factors is the amount of noise that you get at night, so I think if the condition that the applicants offered could be added to the application, it makes it much easier to support.”
