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A pub's plans to open a shisha area at the back of the town centre venue have been turned down.

Officers at Gravesham council rejected the proposal to turn the beer garden at the Prince Albert pub in Wrotham Road, Gravesend, into a shisha area at a planning meeting on Wednesday.

The application for change of use sought to keep the pub's outdoor timber structures used as a beer garden, and turn them into an outdoor restaurant and shisha area, where people could smoke specially-prepared tobacco through elaborate pipes. The outside structure was erected on site, but investigated by Gravesham council's planning enforcement team in June 2021.

The owner claimed the structure was temporary, but was told it still required planning permission. However no application was ever submitted for it.

In February this year, the structure was then extended and converted into a shisha bar, and the council's environmental health team was notified.

Officers found that because the structure in the garden was "substantially enclosed", it was not in line with rules for either smoking shelters or shisha bars.

That is when the application was submitted for the Prince Albert to be continued to be used as a pub and restaurant, with the creation of the shisha area.

While planning permission is not required for the pub to be used as a restaurant – this is already in line with existing regulations – council officers had a number of concerns about the use of the garden.

That area is not covered by the Prince Albert's premises licence, so alcohol cannot be sold in the shisha area. Amplified live and recorded music are also not permitted.

One issue is that the pub is within the Upper Windmill Street Conservation Area, one of 13 conservation areas in Gravesham, introduced to celebrate and conserve local heritage.

The timber structure in the pub's garden was described as having a "detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the street scene" because it has "poor quality external finishes in a prominent position visible from the street".

Ahead of the planning meeting, Gravesham council's conservation officer said in a summary report: "Due to the harm caused to the appearance of the conservation area, the poor quality of materials and design, creating an incongruous addition to the host positive and focal building in the conservation area, the proposals are contrary to local and national planning policy and cannot be supported."

Officers also cited "unacceptable levels of noise and disturbance", and "fugitive odours" on the mainly residential road, as reasons for recommending that the application be rejected, ahead of the meeting that took place this week.

Smoke-free regulations would also require the shisha area to be open-air, and officers claimed the structure would not be able to soundproof the noise and control the odour while also meeting these conditions.

Before the meeting, the council's environmental heath officer said in the summary report: "The Environmental Protection Team has serious concerns that the continued use of the rear annex as a shisha smoking area, with loud music, will result in unreasonable noise and smoke/odour nuisance for nearby residents.

"We consider that there is no suitable mitigation measures for this use and as such we request that the planning permission is refused."

Council officers also took into consideration that the pub is close to Wrotham Road Primary School, and the road would be busy with pedestrians in the mornings and afternoons when parents take their children to and from school.

The Community Safety Officer said: "If the premises are to be trading during the daytime as well as the evening, I anticipate that some members of the public and parents in particular, may feel uncomfortable/concerned about potential anti-social behaviour (albeit perhaps unnecessarily if the premises are well-managed) about the presence of these premises in this environment."

The application was rejected as per the officer recommendation.

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