No through road for independents
By the time you read this the fate of Martin Vaux's Black Cock public house will have been decided by North Devon District Council's planning committee.
On Tuesday they met to consider his appeal to keep signs directing visitors to his pub at the side of the new A361 North Devon link road. These signs are vital for the survival of the isolated business and he has already got a criminal record for refusing to take them down following an earlier rejection of planning permission.
The facts of the case highlight the mindless stupidity of many planners: the small black and white signs had stood for many years beside the old A361; a Department of the Environment (DoE) inspector ruled they posed no threat to road safety; and the same council recently gave Forte permission to erect an 18-foot Little Chef sign on the same road.
Mr Vaux hopes the planners will see sense at his appeal, but he doesn't have high hopes. Following the DoE inspector's report he approached local planners to see what sort of sign might be acceptable, but was offered no advice.
"I might as well have talked to them in Serbo-Croat," Mr Vaux told Caterer. So in the end he has gone for ivory and green signs that are 30% smaller than the originals and is hoping for the best.
Mr Vaux is convinced that uncooperative planners are the biggest threat to tourism is the South-west. Last November he attended a meeting organised by Nick Harvey, Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon. Mr Harvey brought together officials involved in tourism with local hoteliers, restaurateurs and publicans to try to find ways of helping business develop following three poor years.
According to Mr Vaux, virtually all the questions from the floor related to frustration with planners over such things as the conversion of buildings, expansion of hotels, parking restrictions and car park charges and nothing has happened since.
It would be bad enough if North Devon District Council was an isolated case, but it isn't. All over the country there are examples of planners who seem to take pleasure in preventing business development. Most of those who suffer are small independent businesses - somehow the big developers get away with murder.
Good luck to Mr Vaux. How long will it be before planners and the legislators who control them realise the difference between sensible controls and attitudes more suited to a police state?
