A FORMER pub can be converted into a family home, a planning inspector has decided.

The successful appeal to convert the Royal Oak in Whitecroft was made by Mrs Astrid Yhnell-Jones after planning permission was initially refused by the Forest Council.

The property, which is on the very steep Park Hill, cannot be occupied until details are given for a covered storage shed for at least two bikes.

Planning inspector Emma Worley said the main issue was whether the loss of the pub was justified.

She said there were several other pubs in the area, including The Miners’ Arms which is only a short walk away from the Royal Oak.

She added: "I am therefore content that adequate alternative public house facilities exist in the locality to satisfy the needs of the community, including the future occupiers of new residential developments.”

The six-bedroom building is beyond the village development boundary but the inspector said it is close to other buildings and the council had not identified any specific “harm” if the appeal was allowed.

The council had said the Royal Oak was a “non-designated heritage asset” and the loss of its function as a pub would be “harmful” to its significance.

But Ms Worley said: “(I)ts relevance to the social history of Whitechurch by virtue of its community use would be maintained whether or not the building is used as a public house.

“Thus, I find that the proposed change of use would have a neutral effect on the significance of the NDHA.

The council also tried to use the case of an appeal related to the Nag’s Head Inn at Yorkley.

That was rejected because the Nag’s Head had been officially identified as a “community asset” and as such “it is not comparable to the appeal scheme”.