Eastbourne pub to convert car park into new garden area

On Monday (October 3), Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning committee approved plans to create a new outdoor seating area at The Rainbow — a Grade II listed pub in Star Road.

The new area would include timber-framed seating ‘pods’ and new paving, as well as a new wrought iron fence and gate.

The plan would see the pub lose its on-site car park, a move its owner Shoes Simes said was intended to improve her business’s environmental credentials.

She said: “My business is working hard towards being carbon neutral by 2030 and we are working with a company called Net Zero. It is really important to us to encourage walking and cycling to our business.

“All the advice and information I have been given [says] having car parking spaces doesn’t discourage people from using their cars.”

Ms Simes also told councillors the pub would also have a bicycle parking area, which she said could include electric bike charging points.

While recommended for approval, the proposals had seen objections from a group of local residents.

Most of the objectors had raised concerns about the potential for noise creating disturbance to the local area.

However, planning officers said this should not form part of the decision-making process as the area is already licenced. In other words, the pub would already be allowed to use the area as seating without securing planning permission.

The committee also heard how a management plan would be put in place controlling the garden’s hours of use.

Officers also expressed their view that the development would not harm the historic fabric of the listed building and that the changes (which were described as ‘high quality’) would be reversible in any case.

Following further discussion, the scheme was given the committee’s backing, as long as conditions securing electric bike chargers could be put in place.

Full planning permission will not be granted until the scheme is signed off by the County Archaeologist, however.

For further details see application reference 220220 on the Eastbourne Borough Council website.