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Successful change of use from social club to family home, Cirencester

It has been a pleasure to work with Watermoor Point once again, this time securing planning permission for a change of use to turn a private social club into a residential dwelling. 

Watermoor Point purchased the historic pub, the Cotswold Club, last year and we have been advising them on various options for redeveloping the site. In undertaking several feasibility studies for them, concurrent with soft marketing of the The Cotswold Club, it became clear it would be difficult to find a commercially viable scheme.  

As a consequence, Watermoor Point made the decision to adapt the property to provide a home for their facilities manager – creating a new family home and providing Watermoor Point with 24/7 on-site security.  

We are delighted with the positive outcome to this application and thank Cotswold District Council for their proactive engagement and pragmatism. This project will turn an empty and dilapidated building into a beautiful residential dwelling, with workshop and office space, and in the process will help to conserve the future of this stunning Grade II listed building.  

Furthermore, the site benefits from superb travel connections and is within walking distance to the vibrant centre of Cirencester. 

Securing planning permission to convert a listed community asset and pub

Listed buildings and public houses – two very sensitive issues in planning terms.  Key to this project was: meticulous attention to detail to ensure our proposals were policy compliant; a considered vision for the site to enhance and conserve the listed asset; solid evidence as to why the current use was no longer viable, and; effective engagement with the local community and relevant stakeholders. 

We also successfully navigated a number of challenging site designations, including the property’s location within a Conservation Area, environmental protection zone, flood risk and impact on local amenity.   

We are so glad we were able to assist on this project and navigate it to a successful outcome. We are really excited to see the building evolve into its new guise as a family home and continue its strong connections with Watermoor Point. 

Planning for pubs can be a challenge, one that we are well versed in. Be it expanding business operations to support the pub, through to changing the use or redeveloping the site, we can provide you with the necessary guidance to make informed decisions about your development options. 

About us

We are Plainview Planning – a solutions orientated, experienced and knowledgeable team of planning consultants.  If you need professional and informed planning support with your development project, then contact our team via enquiries@plainview.co.uk, to see how we can best assist you, providing the site address and a brief overview of your project.  You can also submit your site via our Landmark Page. We value your privacy and any information which you provide will not be shared outside of our company and will only be used in relation to your enquiry.

Image source: Christopher Stanley Architects 2023