Penn: The Crown Inn refurbishment refused

Bucks Council has turned down Paolo Gilardoni of Greene King’s application to spruce up The Crown Inn, on Church Road, in Penn.

Inside, refurbishment works included alterations to the bar and relocation of customer toilets to the cellar.

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Outside, plans included a rear extension with a new kitchen and bar to serve the beer garden, and a staff break room.

New timber seating, an outbuilding to house disabled access and family toilets, a glass canopy over a patio, and a new children’s play area were also planned.

There were also plans to extend the car park at the Grade II listed building.

The Crown

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But the council found the scheme to be harmful to the Green Belt.

It said the extensions are “sprawling and unattractive” within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The council said the scheme would harm the listed building and the character of Penn and Tylers Green Conservation Area.

It said the plans would be “visually intrusive and overbearing” to neighbours.

Bucks Council said the applicant had also ‘failed to demonstrate how the proposal would conserve and enhance biodiversity’.

“The proposed extensions and outbuilding are considered to be a disproportionate addition over and above the size of the original building, and as such…constitutes inappropriate development, which is harmful by definition to the Green Belt,” a decision notice reads.

“Furthermore, given the scale of the proposed extensions, the outbuilding and the additional expanse of hardstanding proposed for the car parking area, the development would have a significantly detrimental impact on the openness of the Green Belt, in spatial and visual terms.

“The proposed extensions would be of an incongruous scale and appearance and relate poorly to the host building. They would appear as large flat-roofed, sprawling and unattractive additions, which would neither conserve nor enhance the landscape character of the AONB.

“The proposal would…result in harm to the listed building and its setting, as well as to the character and appearance of the conservation area and the views into, out of, and within the conservation area.”

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