Newark: application to turn Newcastle Arms pub into flats submitted

A planning application has been submitted to convert a Newark pub into flats.

It relates to the Newcastle Arms on George Street, which was originally opened as the Leather Bottle.

The application is for conversion into seven one-bedroom residential units.

One neighbour, Michael Mckenna, has so far made representation over the plans, which have been submitted to Newark and Sherwood District Council.

He said: “I would like to make the following observations and ultimately object to the proposal.

“A public house is a shared community asset, is the loss of said (currently open and trading) social facility warranted by the creation of seven bare minimum flats.

This is the last public house left open on Appletongate, one of the main routes into Newark town centre from the mainline train station.

“It has also been a public house since the mid 1800s and is part of Newark’s malting heritage.

“No parking is provided for the seven flats.

“It is an unrealistic proposition that all tenants will not own a car and the on road parking situation is already unsatisfactory due the proximity to the train station and the town centre and the fact that George Street does not benefit from residents only parking protection as do many of the surrounding streets.

“Not only this but this same argument has been used in the planning of several recent developments and as such the load on the on-street parking for residents, their visitors, tradespeople, food and parcel delivery vehicles is even greater due to the repeated acceptance of developments that fail to provide even a single parking space to cover these basic and inevitable needs of the future tenants.

“There is insufficient space allocated for refuse and recycling bins. Space for 14 wheelie bins will be required, there is very little room on the pavements outside the property and any overspill will pose a risk to life as pedestrians will have to step into the road to avoid them.”