A BID by Wye Valley showman Henry Danter to build a three-bedroom bungalow on land beside a "decaying" Grade II-listed former hotel has been turned down by planners.
The applicant, whose business owns the Symonds Yat West Leisure Park and Barry Island Pleasure Park, told Herefordshire Council planners the new bungalow would be built on land beside the former Doward Hotel, at Crocker’s Ash near Whitchurch, and would be used by the manager of the nearby park.
Mr Danter, also of the Doward Hotel, said the proposal was driven by a desire to provide his partner with a living arrangement that optimised their daily commute, adding that this would reduce carbon emissions.
Mr Danter’s partner is currently living in the 18th century listed hotel – “but this is becoming more uneconomical as the building deteriorates and becomes more expensive to heat effectively”, he explained.
She “cannot afford the upkeep of the decaying building with the increasing maintenance costs and the forever rising energy costs”, he added – whereas the new bungalow “will be far more thermally efficient and would cost less to heat”.
Visually, the custom-built house “would be hidden behind trees and would not harm the classic picturesque idiom of the façade being viewed from afar”, he claimed.
A design statement added: “There had previously been ten timber chalets on the other side of the hotel, and when these were removed, Mr Danter was advised by the planning officer that there would be scope for another dwelling on the site of the cabins along with the two houses at the bottom of the drive.”
But Whitchurch and Ganarew Parish Council objected to the proposal as being “outside the agreed settlement boundary”.
The Wye Valley National Landscape Team also opposed the application, saying: "The proposal would further create linear ribbon development extending and urbanising this open countryside location, which would be detrimental to the open rural character of the National Landscape."
Herefordshire Council’s ecology officer Ana Coxixo further said the building would “have a likely significant effect on the River Wye Special Area of Conservation and Wye Valley Woodlands”.
Planners refused permission, saying: “In the absence of any exceptional circumstances this application represents unacceptable development in the open countryside.
"This form of development is considered to be inherently unsustainable, and contrary to the Herefordshire Local Plan.”
Mr Danter is no stranger to planning battles, having had previous applications for three houses and a bungalow with a double garage, both in the grounds of the Doward Hotel, turned down, while also winning an appeal to open an adult gaming arcade in Monmouth's historic Agincourt Square.
His company Blaismere have also been given the go ahead to knock down the former Wormelow Park Hall music venue and replace it with five homes and 15 holiday lodges.
Between the 1950s and the 1980s, the venue hosted acts including Joe Loss and his Orchestra, the Moody Blues, Status Quo, Hot Chocolate and Madness, and had some later success as a nightclub.
It was bought by Mr Danter in 1988, originally with the intention of turning it into industrial units, but fell victim to fire in 2004.