Questions have been raised as to why Julian Dunkerton can't keep marquees outside 131 when Cheltenham Trust is allowed to keep their orangery cafe outside Pittville Pump Room for longer.
Mr Dunkerton’s Lucky Onion group lost its latest bid last month to keep white marquees outside No 131 in Promenade for another 12 months. The marquees were installed at the site in October 2020 and replaced parasols within the frotages and external areas of 131 and 133.
This was when planning enforcement against moveable structures was relaxed during the Covid-19 pandemic to allow bars and restaurants to use external spaces and meet social distancing requirements. In the summer of 2020, the Cheltenham Trust opened its Heritage Cafe Orangery next the grade I-listed Pittville Pump Room.
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The trust was granted permission in June this year to be able to keep the cafe there until September 2024. This will allow them time to develop a “permanent solution for the site”. However, the Lucky Onion Group had its application to keep reduced height marquees outside the grade II*-listed buildings in Promenade turned down by planners on November 16.
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This plans would have allowed the group to keep the marquees while they worked out a “a long-term and sustainable solution to providing outdoor dining space”. Graeme Mackintosh, a member of the public, asked Cheltenham Borough Council leaders about the inconsistency at the Municipal Offices on December 11.
“If Cheltenham Trust are not being granted special planning privileges then why have they been allowed to keep the Covid period greenhouse at Pittville Pump Room until November 2024,” he asked at the full council meeting.
“It was exactly the same building that was refused planning permission in October 2022, then granted in June 2023.
“While by comparison Julian Dunkerton’s Covid structures at 131 had their appeals modification rejected and they are only beside a grade II building of which there are many in Cheltenham not like the iconic grade I listed Pump Room.”
Customer and regulatory services cabinet member Martin Horwood (LD, Leckhampton) thanked Mr Mackintosh for his question but said he could not go into the minutiae of each individual planning application and how it has been treated. He explained that was not the responsibility of the cabinet but the planning committee acting on advice of officers.
“If you like, I might ask either the planning officers responsible or the chair of the planning committee to write to you with a detailed answer to your question," he said. “It’s perfectly reasonable to ask these questions.
"But I would repeat the reassurance that all officers and councillors abide by the planning code of conduct which is pretty strict and is available on the council’s website as part of the council’s constitution.”
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