A PUB landlord said he cannot understand why a council has denied him permission to keep its decking and children’s play area.
Gary Bulmer said the additional seating and play attraction are vital to the viability of the pub but council planners have ruled they are a “visual intrusion into the landscape” with a negative impact and an “inappropriate development in the Green Wedge” of the countryside.
“Everyone who comes says it’s wonderful but it now has to be taken down,” said Mr Bulmer of the decking area beside the Castell y Bwch Inn, in Henllys, Cwmbran and which overlooks Newport with views stretching across to the Severn Estuary.
“It will have a massive impact on trade if this goes, it would be greatly diminished. Is this 50 square metres where the decking is so important?”
Torfaen Borough Council’s planning department rejected an application by Mr Bulmer to retain the use of the area covered by the decking and play area, which it previously said didn’t have permission for food and drink use.
As well as keeping the play area the application proposed putting up a new post and wire fence, to replace the current timber balustrade fencing enclosing the decking, while an outbuilding that was previously a bar but now used for storage would be removed.
Mr Bulmer’s application was first made in 2023, and revised in March this year with further plans submitted, while the council had served an enforcement notice on the previous tenants in 2022 which outlined what the council considered the established boundaries for food and drink use.
More than 3,000 people signed a petition, launched in 2024, urging council planners to agree the decking, play area and marquee could remain and the planning application said they were vital to the viability of the business.
A report, by Torfaen planning officer Simon Pritchard, rejected the planning application and stated: “The change of use and the retention of the decking and play area is considered to be fundamentally contrary to Green Wedge policy and has a visually harmful effect on the character and appearance of the area which is a designated Special Landscape Area.
“For these reasons, it is recommended that planning permission should be refused.”
Mr Bulmer, who bought the pub with wife Karen in 2022 and which they have invested £200,000 in, said: “I don’t accept that it’s visually intrusive.”
He said the only direct view of the decking and play area, which is obscured by a treeline and brambles, is from a public footpath beneath it that is no longer accessible.
“Where is the visibility from? You can’t get down the public footpath because it is full of brambles. You would need a machete to get through there.”
Mr Bulmer is considering an appeal, which he estimates would cost him around £2,500 in professional fees, but hopes to hold further talks with the council: “The first step is to see if I can lessen the visual impact maybe putting some bushes up or trees.”
The planning report claimed it is “debatable” the decking is crucial to the viability of the pub as it isn’t used for large parts of the year due to poor weather. The decking and play area was described as “an artificial levelling of the ground…elevated above the natural gradient” in the area designated as the Southern Lowlands Special Landscape Area.
Mr Bulmer, who has another full time job alongside running the pub, said it is vital it is able to make the most of the outside area and attract families as a steak house.
“To keep this place viable I have a full time job.
“It really is you have to make hay while the sun shines to get you through the quiet months,” said Mr Bulmer who said his other options are to either sell the pub, though it has been on the market for 18 months, or close it and make a planning application for residential use.
He said pubs are struggling with increased costs and said it has to boost footfall to maximise income as “people in South Wales will not pay £8 or £9 a pint which is what you’d need to charge to get back to profit margins pre-Covid.”
