Enforcement action against the owner of a hotel and restaurant being established in an 18th-century inn near Chichester has been ordered – after a claim a beautiful Sussex valley was being 'urbanised.'
The district council's northern area development control committee authorised the service of an enforcement notice on the Fish House – formerly the White Horse Inn – in High Street, Chilgrove.
The notice will demand action over an unauthorised cha
nge of use to a pub garden and car-parking area on Chilgrove Common.
Councillors agreed the breach of planning control was a visual intrusion on the surrounding rural landscape, and causing harm to the Downs area of outstanding natural beauty.
The notice, giving two months for compliance, will demand:
Removal of hardcore and gravel from land.
Removal of railway sleepers and yew planting.
Removal of soil borders and grass turf from the common, and replacement with a mix of native wild grass seeds to reconstitute the common land.
Owner David Barnard told the committee when he bought the pub in February he did not know the area in front was common land.
He had already removed most of the new hedging, and was proposing to put the whole car park back to grass as soon as possible.
"Basically, I did not know there was a problem with the common land issue, so I apologise," he added.
Councillors heard a letter had been received from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England calling for urgent and effective action.
West Sussex county councillor Mike Hall said the changes were visually intrusive, and out of keeping with the rural character. "This is an urbanisation of a beautiful Sussex valley," he said.
Martin Small, representing the South Downs Joint Committee, said he had strong objections to works that had taken place, and urged swift and decisive enforcement action.
Cllr Andrew Shaxson said this was an iconic piece of landscape, and Cllr Andrew Smith said despite the owner's promise to undo the works he had done, it was appropriate to take enforcement action.
The inn is a listed building, and was once regularly visited by the British prime minister Anthony Eden, who had a home nearby.
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