Heights pub plans submitted

PLANS have been submitted to turn a former Saddleworth public house into a private house and garden.

The Royal Oak at the Heights in Delph served its last customers in March 2020.

Now, owners Michael and Sheila Fancy want to change the building – sited in green belt – into a dwellinghouse.

Until its closure a pub has existed on the Broad Lane site since 1767. The applicants have owned the inn since 1993.

Now, permission is sought to convert the three lounges and bar area into a living room and dining room. The toilets will become a utility room.

No external changes are proposed. The car park will remain as existing and will be used as a domestic garden.

A document submitted as part of the plans states: “The proposal will result in the effective re-use of previously developed land and bring an empty public house into use for additional living accommodation for the family.

“The public house will never re-open and the residential use is a sympathetic change to the building. This clearly balances in favour of the development.

“No elevational changes are proposed and as such it will not have an adverse impact on the openness of the Green Belt.

“The use of the existing car park, to the rear, as a garden will also have negligible impact on openness as a domestic garden will have less visual impact than parked cars and will result in a neutral impact on openness.”

• To view plans visit: https://tinyurl.com/33ceb3u9