A pub in Marlow has been given the green light to double the size of its beer garden – despite neighbours claiming a bigger site will stop them sleeping and reduce the value of their homes.

The Duke of Clarence on Marlow High Street was granted permission to develop a parking area into an expansion of its beer garden by resurfacing it with gravel and installing two benches and a boundary fence on Tuesday, September 3.

The news is unlikely to be welcomed by residents in the neighbouring Portland Gardens housing estate, 10 of whom submitted objections based on noise and parking concerns to Buckinghamshire Council after the expansion was proposed back in May.

Simon Backer, whose flat backs onto the existing beer garden, said customers of the pub already make noise “until well after closing time” and have been known to “park in our resident-only places” – both of which he said would be exacerbated to cause “low quality of life and disturbed sleep” if the plans go ahead. 

The current beer garden (Image: Buckinghamshire Council)

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Mr Backer and fellow resident Paul Sissons also suggested that the imminent arrival of pub chain Wetherspoons in Marlow this month will make parking in the town centre “even more difficult” and increase incursions into private spaces.

Mr Sissons added: “Pubgoers – already in large numbers – show little to no respect for the fact that this is a dense residential area, and the proposal will significantly add to what is already unacceptable.”

Another neighbour, Bella Campbell, described the current level of noise from the garden as “unacceptable” and suggested that the expansion would cause “further loss of our quality of life, sleep and the value of our home”.

The site of the proposed expansion (Image: Buckinghamshire Council)

Planning officers dismissed such concerns in a document mapping out the reasons behind their approval, however, suggesting that those choosing to live in central Marlow should expect a certain amount of “noise and disturbance” in the evenings, something that wouldn’t be considerably increased by the new development, according to an impact survey.

The council also acknowledged the loss of three off-street parking spaces as a result of the expansion plans but said its location, within reach of public transport and pedestrian and cycle routes, meant “a refusal based on parking could not be sustained”.

Despite this, the pub will have to retain the remaining onsite parking space and limit the garden’s opening hours to between 7am and 11pm, in keeping with the existing outdoor area.

A spokesperson for the planning authority concluded that they were “satisfied, subject to conditions, that the beer garden extension would not be harmful to the living conditions of nearby residents”.