Pub shelter scuppered by screws

A licensee has been ordered to remove his smoking shelter because the seven screws fastening it to the ground mean it needs planning permission.

Robin Watson faces a £20,000 fine if he doesn't take down the £300 gazebo at the back of the Shoulder of Mutton in York.

The case re-enforces the need for licensees to make extra sure they have planning permission for shelters regardless of whether they believe it is permanent or not.

Enterprise Inns lessee Watson erected the shelter last year and had the poles supporting it screwed to the ground to stop it blowing away.

Council planners told him the structure needs planning permission because it is physically attached to the ground had been up for a year or so.

Watson said he feared for trade if the shelter went. "If I didn't have the shelter up I think a lot of smoking customers would simply move to a pub where they can smoke outside."

Yorkshire's Euro MP, Ukip member Godfrey Bloom, branded the council's threat "absurd" and said he would take up the case with the council.

A City of York Council spokseswoman, said: "The structure requires planning permission because it is fixed to the ground. The council's Planning Enforcement team has written to the owner of the property asking them to take the structure down or apply for planning permission."

MA legal editor Peter Coulson said: "The council are saying it's clearly intended to be permanently installed so unfortunately it needs planning permission.

"They are sticking by the letter of the law. It's up to the planning department to determine what a fixed structure is."