Popular pub close to Peterborough sees permission for already built £20,000 swimming pool denied

The Dog In A Doublet, at North Side, close to Thorney, has been dealt a blow after its retrospective planning application for its new swimming pool and a series of other redevelopments to expand its hospitality offering was denied.

The gastro pub and hotel applied for planning permission to change the building use from a public house to mixed use as a pub/restaurant in August.

Along with this, plans for a guest log cabin, converting a horsebox into a guestroom, a residential chalet as well as the swimming pool, a raised deck, outdoor kitchen, a gym and an external decked/raised seating area were also submitted.

The top floor was converted into four hotel rooms which took the number of rooms on the site to ten, including a single annexe in the garden.

Much of the work has already been completed and is understood to have cost around £20,000.

The swimming pool first opened to guests in the summer and has received many positive reviews from customers.

The pub must now adjust its plans and resubmit them for approval or appeal the decision, however, planning officers rejected the application for nine specific reasons - as listed on their decision notice.

Among those were concerns about the amount of parking on the site, the lack of a business plan to justify the new log cabin and converted horsebox and the impact on amenities of nearby properties.

The decision also stated that the pool, horsebox, log cabin and residential chalet and wooden gazebos unacceptably change the character of the area.

It stated: “These proposals result in a level of urbanisation which is detrimental to the openness of the countryside. The scale, location and appearance of the development is visually prominent and fails to be compatible with the rural location or enhance the character of the landscape.

"All aspects of the development contribute to a cumulative overdevelopment of the site and fail to respect the context appropriately.”

The Peterborough Telegraph has attempted to contact the landlord for comment about the plans.