THE FISHERMAN'S RETREAT - PROPOSEDACCOMMODATION BUILDING

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

SITE DESCRIPTION:

The Fisherman's Retreat is located in twine valley, an old industrial mill site within theTwine Valley to the north east of Ramsbottom. The Fisherman's Retreat is anextremely well established countryside destination which draws people into the areaby a variety of ways. The site currently contains a restaurant, whisky shop andfunction suites and also offers coarse fishing facilities. The site is accessed fromRiding Head Lane, which leads to two car parks – one to the north and one to theeast of the existing building.

The site is located within the Green Belt and is surrounded by predominantly opencountryside and farmland. As well as being a leisure destination for dining andevents, the site is widely used as a start/finish point for walkers, mountain bikers andhorse riders accessing the surrounding countryside as acknowledged on page 11 ofthe Rossendale Visitor Guide. The Fisherman's Retreat is settled within a valley andthere are limited views from outside of the site due to the topography of thesurrounding land.

PROPOSAL:

The proposed development involves the erection of a nineteen (19) bedroomaccommodation building to the south of the existing restaurant building. Theproposed building would consist of two floors of accommodation and would be setinto the landscape to minimise the impact upon the openness of the Green Belt. Theproposed building would be constructed from reclaimed stone and slate to match thesurrounding buildings.

The site would continue to be accessed via the existing access road with a smallstretch of road leading to the car parks being diverted around the proposedaccommodation building. A small car parking / drop off area would be provided to thefront (south) of the accommodation building to ensure full accessibility. All otherguest parking would be provided within the existing car parks to the east of theproposed building. The proposed development would provide overnight / short stayaccommodation for existing customers and visitors to the Fisherman's Retreat andwider Rossendale valley and would not directly generate any additional traffic.

PLANNING HISTORY:

1990/130 – Erection of Anglers clubhouse (190 square metres) – Approved withconditions – 19 June 1991

1992/053 – Retention of partially constructed anglers retreat with reduced floorspace (171 square metres) and elevation changesApproved – 9 February 1994

1997/266 – Retention of patio and construction of first floor balcony – Refused – 8September 1997

1997/453 – Retention of ground floor patio (230 square metres) – Approved withconditions – 6 April 1997.

2000/335 – Outline application for the erection of a 40 bed hotel

2004/849 – Replacement of marquee extension with single storey building to formfunction room – Approved with conditions – 5 April 2005.

2008/0538 – Erection of a one and a half storey extension to create a new restaurantarea and function suite at Fisherman's Retreat, Riding Head Lane, Ramsbottom.Approved with conditions – 8 December 2008.

2008/0815 – Erection of detached meat refrigeration unit at Fisherman's Retreat,Riding Head Lane, Ramsbottom. Approved with conditions – 19 February 2009

2010/0612 – Erection of two storey extension (retrospective) at the Fisherman'sRetreat, Riding Head Lane, Ramsbottom. Approved with conditions – 21 January2011.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 states thatapplications for planning consent should be determined in accordance with theDevelopment Plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

There are a number of policies within the Development Plan that are relevant to theproposal and they are considered in turn below. In addition, regard has been given tothe National Planning Policy Framework, which provides the framework throughwhich the development plan is implemented.

National Planning Policy Framework:

The NPPF promotes sustainable development, which has three key elements:• Economic• Social

• Environmental

Sustainable development involves seeking positive improvements in the quality ofthe built, natural and historic environment, as well as in people’s quality of life,including (but not limited to):

• Making it easier for jobs to be created in cities, towns andvillages;

• Replacing poor design with better design;• Improving the conditions in which people live, work, travel and

take leisure.

The NPPF states that there is a presumption in favour of sustainable developmentunless material planning considerations indicate otherwise.

In other words, during the development management process, this means:• Approving development proposals that accord with the

development plan without delay;• Where the development plan is absent, silent or relevant policies

are out-of-date, granting permission unless:• Any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and

demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against thepolicies in this Framework taken as a whole;

• Specific policies in this Framework indicate developmentshould be restricted.

Core planning principles:• Not simply be about scrutiny but instead be a creative exercise

in finding ways to enhance and improve the places in which people live theirlives;

• Proactively drive and support sustainable economicdevelopment to deliver the homes, business and industrial units, infrastructureand thriving local places that the country needs.

• Always seek to secure high quality design and a good standardof amenity for all existing and future occupants of land and buildings;

• Encourage the effective use of land by reusing land that hasbeen previously developed, providing it is not of high environmental value;

• Promote mixed use developments, and encourage multiplebenefits from the use of land in urban and rural areas, recognising that someopen land can perform many functions;

1. Building a strong competitive economy

The government is committed to securing economic growth in order to createjobs and prosperity, building on the country’s inherent strengths and to meetingthe twin challenges of global competition and of a low carbon future.

The government is committed to ensuring that the planning system doeseverything it can to support sustainable economic growth. Planning shouldoperate to encourage and not act as an impediment to sustainable growth.Therefore significant growth should be placed on the need to support

economic growth through the planning system.

3. Supporting a prosperous rural economy

Planning policies should support economic growth in rural areas in order tocreate jobs and prosperity by taking a positive approach to sustainable newdevelopment. To promote a strong rural economy, local and neighbourhoodplans should:• support the sustainable growth and expansion of all types of business

and enterprise in rural areas both through the conversion of existing buildings andwell-designed new buildings;

• Support sustainable rural tourism and leisure developments that benefitbusinesses in rural areas, communities and visitors and which respect thecharacter of the countryside. This should include supporting the provision andexpansion of tourist and visitor facilities in appropriate locations where identifiedneeds are not met by existing facilities in rural service centres

7. Requiring good design

The government attaches great importance to the design of the builtenvironment. Good design is a key aspect of sustainable development, isindivisible from good planning and should contribute positively to making placesbetter for people.

It is important to plan positively for the achievement of high quality and inclusivedesign for all development, including individual buildings, public and privatespaces and wider area development schemes.

8. Promoting healthy communities

To deliver the social, recreational and cultural facilities and services the communityneeds, planning policies and decisions should:

• Ensure that established shops, facilities and services are able todevelop and modernise in a way that is sustainable, and retained for thebenefit of the community.

9. Protecting Green Belt land

Green Belt serves five purposes:• To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built up areas;• To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;• To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;• To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and• To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict

and other urban land.

A local planning authority should regard the construction of new buildings asinappropriate in Green Belt. Exceptions to this are:

• Buildings for agriculture and forestry;• Provision of appropriate facilities for outdoor sport, outdoor recreation

and for cemeteries, as long as it preserves the openness of the Green Belt anddoes not conflict with the purposes of including land within it;

• The extension or alteration of a building provided that it does not resultin disproportionate additions over and above the size of the original building;

• The replacement of a building, provided the new building is in the sameuse and not materially larger than the one it replaces;

• Limited infilling in villages and limited affordable housing for localcommunity needs under policies set out in the local plan; or

• Limited infilling or the partial and complete redevelopment of previouslydeveloped sites (brownfield land), whether redundant or in continuing use(excluding temporary buildings), which would not have a greater impact on theopenness of the Green Belt and the purpose of including land within the GreenBelt

Inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt andshould not be approved except in very special circumstances.

Local Policy:

Rossendale Core Strategy DPD

AVP5 – Strategy for south west RossendalePromotion of outdoor recreation supported by appropriately located small scaleovernight accommodation, local shops, cafes and other necessary facilities.

Policy 1 – General development locations and principles - Green Belt &Countryside

Proposals outside the urban boundary will be determined in accordance with therelevant national and local planning guidance:

• The former Rossendale Hospital site, off HaslingdenRoad, is designated as a Major Developed Site in the Green Belt.Detailed boundaries and development criteria will be included in theSite Allocations DPD. The footprint of the existing buildings will formthe starting point for consideration of any proposal.• A review of the existing Green Belt boundaries (Local PlanSaved Policy DS3) in the areas shown on Figure (number to bedetermined) will be undertaken as part of the Site Allocations DPD. Thereview will be limited to small scale changes and cartographiccorrections that do not adversely impact on the purposes of includingland in the Green Belt.

• The review will be based on a consistent process thatreflects current national guidance. Any changes to the Green Beltwould only be made in exceptional circumstances and would take intoaccount each of the following criteria:

• Effect on openness

• The overall integrity of the Green Belt• Checking the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas and other

settlements• The significance of local and longer distance views into and out of the

site• Preventing neighbouring towns and villages merging into one another• The maintenance of an appreciable open zone around and between

built-up areas• The safeguarding of the countryside from encroachment• To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns and

settlements• Whether it assists urban regeneration by encouraging the recycling of

derelict and other urban land• Where small scale selective rounding off of Green Belt boundaries

would promote sustainable development

Policy 14: Tourism

Tourism, and in particular the active sports industry, is important to Rossendale, andis a key opportunity for the whole Borough. Tourism growth will capitalise on leisurepursuits and the unique sense of place within the Valley, including its heritage assets,giving particular emphasis to the east of the Borough.Tourism throughout the Borough will be promoted by:

• Ensuring through the Allocations Document that key sites areidentified for tourism in general and specifically to support the “AdrenalineGateway”

• The development, extension and upgrading of footpaths,cycleways and bridleways (specifically the Rossendale Way, Irwell SculptureTrail and Mary Towneley Loop, and more generally the Public Rights of Way

network), and supported by appropriate signage, interpretationand public art.

• Support for the clustering of tourism related activities.• Events promotion• Taking a positive approach to development of complementary

accommodation and hospitality facilities.

Rossendale has a strong cultural offer, and proposals for the enhancement ofexisting facilities and activities as well as the development of new facilities andactivities will be considered favourably. This will also include any supportingnecessary infrastructure requirements, such as enhanced access through carparking, bike racks, public realm and public transport improvements. The use ofexisting buildings will be encouraged, particularly where located outside the urbanboundary.

New development outside the urban boundary will be considered acceptable where itis essential for the proposed facility, no sites within the urban boundary are suitable,and there are no unacceptable impacts affecting:

• Landscape character, or• Visual quality (including light pollution), or• Amenity to neighbours (including noise pollution), or

• Nature conservation assets.

The Council will seek to minimise any negative effects on the transport networkbrought about by increased tourism development, and will seek developercontributions as appropriate in line with policy 22. The Council will also work withpartners, including neighbouring authorities, to encourage joint bus-rail services andticketing.

Planning proposals for the expansion and enhancement of creative industries suchas artist studios and the theatres in Bacup and Waterfoot will be given positiveconsideration.

The countryside and features of local heritage interest will be protected andenhanced for their own value, their value to local residents and for their tourismvalue. Key biodiversity sites and landscape assets will be conserved and wherepossible enhanced alongside the development of the local tourist industry, inparticular within the designated West Pennine Moors area and the moorland of theSouth Pennines.

Access to tourism specific training will, through cross-sector partnership, be activelysupported, in line with Policy 6.

Policy 15: Overnight Visitor Accommodation

The Council will take a positive approach to new, small-scale, high quality visitoraccommodation. This includes hotels, bed and breakfast establishments, self-catering facilities, bed and tack, camping barns, and sites to be used for campingand caravanning. Proposals will be supported particularly where use is made ofexisting buildings.

Proposals will be supported at locations both within and outside of the urbanboundary where:

• They are appropriate to their locality (including in terms of size,amenity to neighbouring uses), and

• They are complementary to existing tourism facilities, and• Access is good by a variety of modes (with no adverse effects on

the local road network), and• The capacity of existing infrastructure is adequate, and• There are no harmful effects on visual amenity, landscape, or

nature conservation assets, and• The development will not reduce the amount of land in use for

the purposes of open space or recreation, and• Where need can be demonstrated.

In addition for areas outside the urban boundary it will be expected that, where it isappropriate to the type of establishment (for example, a hotel), use will be made ofexisting buildings.

All ancillary facilities should be designed (in terms of style and materials) to takeaccount of their functions and blend into their settings.

Ancillary facilities such as cycle storage or horse paddocks will be encouraged inlocations such as along bridleways or the cycle network.

Any large scale hotel proposals (40 bedrooms or over) should be located in oradjacent to the town centres of Rawtenstall or Bacup. Outside of these centres, largescale hotel proposals will only be supported where they form part of a widerregeneration scheme, can demonstrate a wider community benefit and access to thesite can be provided by a variety of modes.

Policy 21: Supporting the Rural Economy and its Communities

The rural environment and economy will be protected and enhanced through thefollowing principles:

Development will be restricted to existing rural settlement boundaries and withinidentified major developed sites. Outside of these areas, proposals shoulddemonstrate the social and/or economic needs/benefits for the local rural communityand strict consideration will be given to the impact of rural development on thecountryside (including the natural environment) and/or Green Belt.

Support will be given to the social and economic needs of rural communities byencouraging:

• The retention or expansion of appropriately sized businesses• The re-use or replacement of suitable rural buildings for

employment generating uses• Proposals seeking to widen local facilities and services for

everyday needs• Live-work units• Diversification of the agricultural economy for business purposes• Sustainable tourism developments, including recreation and

leisure uses appropriate to a countryside location such as horse-relatedactivities

• Arts and crafts based industries• Technological developments needed to facilitate employment

development in rural areas and help address social exclusion• The improvement of public transport links to identified urban

centres, employment areas and visitor attractions• Increased accessibility to and from rural communities by

sustainable modes of travel.

In all cases, the Council will seek to protect the most productive and versatileagricultural land in the Borough, including agricultural practices unique to the area.

JUSTIFICATION OF PROPOSAL:

The application site is located within the Green Belt and the provision of anaccommodation building would be considered inappropriate development. Therefore,the proposals can only be allowed if very special circumstances exist to overcomeany harm to the openness of the Green Belt. As such, it is necessary to assess theperceived level of harm to the Green Belt under current policy legislation alongsidethe 'very special circumstances' identified in favour of the development below.

1. Impact On Openness Of Green Belt

The essential characteristic of Green Belt designated land is its openness andpermanence, and the fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urbansprawl by keeping this land permanently open. In terms of the purposes of includingland within the Green Belt, it is not considered that the development proposals wouldsignificantly undermine these purposes for the following reasons:

• The proposed development is limited in extent and selfcontained and, as such, would not lead to a sprawl of the built up area;

• The site is not located within a sensitive area where there is anarrow gap between settlements. Therefore, it would not lead to a merging ofneighbouring towns;

• While there would be some encroachment into thecountryside/Green Belt, the proposed development would sitwithin the established curtilage of the existing business andwould not appear as an isolated development; and

• The proposed development would not harm the setting or specialcharacter of an historic town.

Great care has been given to the siting and design of the proposed development tominimise the impact upon the openness of the Green Belt. The existing facilities atthe Fisherman's Retreat would be utilised to ensure the overall size of the proposedaccommodation building is as small as possible, and the resulting building wouldappear subservient to the existing development on site in terms of overall height,scale and massing.

The proposed accommodation building would be located on land immediately to thesouth of the existing building and would form part of the existing group of buildingswith a direct link to the main restaurant. The proposed building would replace thepartially constructed refrigeration building on the site and would also be located overthe existing access road to the car parks. As such, the site would constitutepreviously developed land. A slightly revised access road would be constructed tothe south of the proposed accommodation building.

It is considered the replacement of the existing, partially constructed refrigerationbuilding would help to minimise the overall impact upon the openness of the GreenBelt and prevent further encroachment into the Green Belt.

The proposed development would be set into the landscape, taking account of thetopography of the land, which slopes from east to west and is located between twohills. The proposed accommodation building would be two storeys in height whenapproached from the west, but would have the appearance of a single storeybuilding when viewed from the east. The site of the proposed building would bescreened by the landforms to the west and east so local views into and out of the sitewould not be significantly affected and the development would not be highly visiblewhen viewed from a distance. Furthermore, it is noted that permission was grantedfor the infilling of part of the quarry void at Fletcher Bank Quarry, which is located tothe south west of the development site. The proposed building, and indeed theFisherman's Retreat site as a whole, would be further screened by the landformcreated as the infilling works progress until their completion in 2036. Due to thecareful siting and design of the proposed accommodation building, the newdevelopment would sit comfortably adjacent to the existing building and wouldcompliment the overall appearance of the complex.

Appropriate landscaping would be provided to help soften and minimise any impactof the development, and locally sourced stone from the valley and othercomplimentary materials would ensure an elegant and appropriate finish. Aside froma small drop off car park with designated disabled parking bays immediately to thefront (south) of the accommodation building, no additional guest car parking wouldbe required as there is sufficient capacity in the existing car parks.

It would be necessary to redirect the access road around the proposed building toconnect with the existing car parks. The proposed access road would be single trackwith passing places and would be used by customers only as all deliveries wouldcontinue to utilise the existing servicing facilities. As such, the proposed developmenthas been carefully designed to keep the amount of hardstanding to a minimum andthereby, reduce the overall impact upon the openness of the Green Belt.

Overall, while recognising that there will be some impact on the openness of theGreen Belt by virtue of introducing built development, the proposals are consideredto be well contained and maximise the opportunities to limit the impact upon theopenness of the Green Belt. The distant views into and out of the site and the overallintegrity of the Green Belt would not be unduly harmed.

2. Meeting A Demonstrated Need

The proposed accommodation building is required to meet the needs of the existing /future customers of the Fisherman's Retreat, to ensure the continued developmentand improvement of this thriving local business.

The Rossendale Tourism Study was commissioned as part of the evidence base forthe Core Strategy and identified the constraints and issues with the tourism offer inRossendale. Two of the points identified within the study are:

• National planning policy states that most tourist accommodationshould be in or adjacent to existing towns and villages but this may not be

appropriate for the demand characteristics of Rossendale’s offer; and• There is a need to improve the quality of the tourism offer, not

just the quantity of attractions.

The Tourism Study has identified that the number of short breaks has increased yearon year since 1995 and is likely to continue in the short term. In 2008, there were2,117,120 day visitors to the Borough with only 120,210 staying overnight, whichequates to 6%. As such, the percentage of overnight visitors is less than half the subregional rate of 13%.

Of the 120,210 overnight visitors, only 14,890 actually stayed in visitoraccommodation within Rossendale, with the remaining 105,320 (87.6%) staying withfriends or relatives.

A search on the 'Visit Rossendale' website identified the following accommodation:Self catering x4Bed and breakfast x11Hotel x1

There is currently only one hotel within Rossendale, which is located in Haslingdenand has 7 rooms. There are 4 self-catering properties and 11 bed and breakfastestablishments available. Of these 16 businesses, only 5 are located within thewestern half of the borough.

If there are only 5 potential places to stay and 7 hotel rooms within the western halfof borough, then it is entirely probable that some, if not all, of the visitors staying withfamily and friends did so because of a lack of alternative accommodation.

Currently, the tourism sector is heavily dependent upon day visitors. However it isrecognised that overnight visitors generate a much higher proportional spend, whichwould be of greater benefit to other businesses and sectors within the borough.

The tourism study has identified that ‘Rossendale has a poor mix of services andnon-serviced facilities’ as well as ‘significant gaps in supply – only 1 hotel; noaccredited caravan or camping sites; no youth hostel facilities and a very limitedprovision of bunk house space.’ It goes on to recommend that the Council producesa marketing brochure targeted at hotel developers and a similar brochure for un-serviced accommodation as ‘the development of new facilities is crucial to attractingstaying visitors’.

There are a large number of business visitors coming to the area for meetings,contract work, conferences and work placements, however there are very fewconferencing / meeting facilities within Rossendale and even less with on-siteaccommodation. The majority of the facilities needed for business tourism arealready in place at the Fisherman's Retreat, with the exception of accommodation.As such, it is considered the proposed development for a designatedaccommodation building would be able to meet this identified need within theBorough, would result in further business opportunities and attract more businessinvestments to the area, which would be of benefit to the wider local economy.

Therefore, the proposed development of nineteen (19) rooms would provide highquality serviced accommodation to meet the identified need of tourist and businessvisitors both to the Fisherman's Retreat and within the wider Rossendale valley, inaccordance with the aims and objectives of the local Tourism Study and Policies.

3. Absence Of Alternative Sites

A detailed search of the surrounding area has indicated that there are no suitablealternative sites which would meet the identified need for overnight visitoraccommodation in the Rossendale Borough. It is noted that Outline permission wasgranted on appeal in 2008 for a hotel, pub/restaurant and apartments at the formerAccrington and Rossendale College, Rawtenstall. This consent expired in 2011, andeven should the permission be renewed in the future, it would not provide the on-siteaccommodation required by guests / visitors of the Fisherman's Retreat in any case.

There are no specific hotel sites allocated and the vacant sites are allocated for analternative use or have permission for an alternative use.

The proposed site at the Fisherman's Retreat is already developed, has adequatesite area to accommodate the required extension and is in a suitable location, whichis accessible to both the motorway network and local transport links. Therefore, theproposed development would directly contribute towards meeting the great demandfor accommodation outlined in the Rossendale Tourism Study.

4. Existing Business / Contribution To Local Economy

The Fisherman's Retreat is a well established and successful, family-ownedbusiness, which opened in 1992. The Fisherman's Retreat has evolved from a placeintended only for fishermen in 1992 to an award winning bar and restaurant, with themore recent addition of function suites and wedding venue in 2011. The Fisherman'sRetreat is a local employer, with approximately 50% of staff coming from theRossendale valley itself. The owners of the Fisherman's Retreat, who built thebusiness from scratch 22 years ago, have already invested significant amounts ofmoney and time into making this business the success it is today. These currentdevelopment proposals to take the next logical step to expand the business into afacility offering full 'hotel' services would involve further substantial investment,showing the owner's commitment to providing a much-needed, premier leisure andrecreational facility within the Borough.

Since the opening of the function suites, the Fisherman's Retreat has hosted 120weddings and functions since 2011. The number of weddings is increasing year onyear and bookings are continually being taken for functions in 2014, 2015 and 2016,which clearly shows the popularity of the venue. In addition, whisky and winetastings are held throughout the year bringing approximately 1000 people to thevenue per year.

For weddings, there is an average of approximately 100 guests, with some weddingsbeing larger and some smaller. While the bride and groom may be local, it isinevitable that many guests will travel from further afield and will require overnightaccommodation. One of the first enquiries made when booking a wedding isregarding accommodation, at which point a wedding event can be lost solely due tothe current lack of on-site accommodation.

Whilst the business has a strong local customer following, the Fisherman's Retreatalso has a country-wide catchment and draws many visitors into the area. Eventshosted at the Fisherman's Retreat, such as whisky tastings and weddings bringpeople into the valley in large numbers, only for them to be re-directed back out ofthe Borough to source accommodation. For the past three years, the guests ofweddings and functions at the Fisherman's Retreat have stayed at the followinghotels:

• Red Hall Hotel, Walmersley• The Old Mill Hotel, Ramsbottom• The Village Hotel, Bury• Premier Inn, Bury

All of these hotels are located within the Borough of Bury so all of the prospectivespend associated with an overnight stay is being spent in Bury and not inRossendale. Directing visitors back out of the Rossendale valley also reduces thepossibility of these people going on to enjoy other leisure / recreation and touristattractions within the Rossendale valley.

The proposed development represents a substantial investment in the extension ofan existing and well-established facility within the Rossendale Valley, which providesa service to both the local community and visitors to the Borough, either for businessor recreation purposes. As well as providing excellent local employmentopportunities with the potential creation of an additional 30 positions, the proposeddevelopment would involve the expansion of a tourist and visitor facility in an areawhere the identified needs are not being met by the existing facilities.

4. Tourism Policy

The proposed development would provide overnight / short stay accommodation ofan appropriate scale at a site which is already used for outdoor recreation such aswalking, cycling and horse riding.

Policy 14 of the Core Strategy states that new development of tourism relatedfacilities will be considered acceptable outside the urban boundary where it isessential for the proposed facility, no sites within the urban boundary are suitableand there are no unacceptable impacts.

In this case, the proposal for on-site overnight / short stay accommodation is the nextstep in the development of an established wedding venue, such as the Fisherman'sRetreat. Whilst the review of alternative sites has established that there is not asuitable site within the urban boundary, it is acknowledged there would always be a

need for immediate on-site accommodation in any case. The accommodationbuilding has been carefully designed to reflect the character and appearance of theexisting buildings on the site, and indeed the local stone / slate roofed buildings inthe surrounding area. it is not considered the proposed development would generateany impacts in terms of loss of privacy, outlook or noise. Furthermore, the proposalfor on-site overnight accommodation would reduce the number of vehiclemovements to and from the site during unsociable hours which would be beneficialto all local residents residing close to the access roads.

Policy 15 from the Core Strategy identifies the Council’s positive approach toovernight visitor accommodation, particularly new, small-scale, high qualityaccommodation. Policy 15 states that proposals will be supported at locations bothwithin and outside the urban boundary, subject to various criteria. As such, thisspecific policy does not see the location of new accommodation within the GreenBelt as a concern.

The Fisherman's Retreat has been established for nearly 22 years and is proven asa premier destination for tourists and visitors to the Rossendale Valley. As well ascomplimenting the existing tourism facilities of the restaurant and function suites atthe Fisherman's Retreat, the high-quality accommodation would provide a gatewayto many other tourist / recreation / leisure attractions in Rossendale and the locality,including the East Lancashire Railway, numerous museums and historic mills andthe Irwell Sculpture Trail. The site is well connected to public footpaths andbridleways and the Rossendale Visitors Guide promotes a 'wind turbine and whiskytrail', which starts and ends at the Fisherman's Retreat, further demonstrating itsstrategic location as a gateway to the countryside. Providing appropriate scale andquality accommodation in this location within the Rossendale Valley would enablemany more visitors to stay in the local area and spend longer enjoying the manyleisure and recreation activities available, in accordance with the Tourism Policyobjectives.

The proposed accommodation building has been thoughtfully sited and designed tominimise the overall footprint of the building whilst maximising the number of rooms.The proposal would include nineteen (19) en-suite bedrooms and a reception areasurrounding a private, open courtyard. A purpose-built, first floor glazed passagewaywould be erected to provide a distinct link between the existing restaurant buildingand the new accommodation facility, enabling overnight guests to use the lounge,bar and conferencing facilities already provided on site. The provision of on-siteaccommodation at the Fisherman's Retreat would compliment the existing facilities,resulting in an exclusive countryside facility with all the offerings of a top-qualityboutique hotel, and providing a true focal destination within the Borough. Thedevelopment site would incorporate an area of land which has already been partiallydeveloped and the overall footprint of the new development would be within thebuilding envelope of the Fisherman's Retreat complex, therefore the amount of landfor recreation or open space purposes would not be reduced.

There is clear support within the Policies of the Core Strategy for tourism relateddevelopment and new overnight accommodation within the Borough, as well asproposals to enhance and support the rural economy, which the proposeddevelopment would directly address. The proposed development would attract more

visitors from a significantly wider catchment to the Fisherman's Retreat, who willspend and invest directly in this business and also in the wider Rossendale valley.The provision of high-quality overnight accommodation through this proposeddevelopment would promote tourism in accordance with the Policies in the CoreStrategy and the NPPF, create additional jobs to support the local economy andfurther secure the long term employment of the 30 existing staff at the Fisherman'sRetreat.

5. Traffic Generation

The customer based evidence gained from events held over the years, and mostsignificantly since the opening of the wedding and function suites, has clearlydemonstrated there is an existing demand for overnight accommodation fromcustomers at the Fisherman's Retreat. As the primary demand for overnightaccommodation is from future visitors to the Fisherman's Retreat for a wedding /function, it is considered that the proposed development would considerably reducetraffic generation to and from the site during these events. For example, a typicalwedding guest arrives at the venue during the day in their own private vehicle, beforeleaving at the end of the evening in a taxi to travel to their off-site accommodation.These same people then have to return the following morning in another taxi tocollect their car, thus averaging at four vehicle movements into and out of the site percouple / small group. The provision of on-site accommodation would negate theneed for many guests to leave the site at the end of the evening, effectively halvingthe number of vehicle movements into and out of the site, particular at unsociablehours. The use of pre-organised group mini-buses and coaches is still recommendedfor people travelling to a similar destination in the interests of green travel.

The proposed development would incorporate a small accessible parking / drop-offzone to the front (south) of the building to ensure full accessibility for all guests. Allother guest parking would be incorporated within the existing car parks at theFisherman's Retreat where there is sufficient capacity as they already accommodateall the vehicles associated with weddings and events that would essentially make upthe majority of the guest clientele.

CONCLUSION :

The Green Belt policy issues have been fully examined and the overall impact of theproposals on the openness of the Green Belt have been assessed in detail above. Inessence, the issues outlined demonstrate that while the proposed development isclassified as inappropriate development in the Green Belt, the actual harm caused tothe openness of the Green Belt is limited and is clearly outweighed by the need forthe proposals and the benefits it would provide to the wider Rossendale Borough inaccordance with the Core Strategy and Tourism Policies.

The 'very special circumstances' that justify the grant of planning permission for thisdevelopment can be summarised as follows:

• There is clear planning policy support for proposals for tourismrelated facilities and overnight visitor accommodation in the Core Strategy andthe National Planning Policy Framework;

• There is a clear and identified need for overnight visitoraccommodation in the Borough as detailed in the Rossendale Tourism Study;

• A review of alternative sites has indicated that there are nosuitable alternative sites, and the identified need is for on-site accommodationin any case;

• The proposed accommodation building / facility would belinked to an established countryside tourist and visitordestination, which holds a series of functions such as weddingsand whisky tastings, which in turn has directly created thedemand for on-site accommodation;

• The proposed development would allow the associated spendfrom overnight accommodation to be spent in Rossendale rather than otherexisting accommodation in Bury; and

• The proposed development would provide amodest, high-quality facility which would create a sustainablefuture for the existing business and would secure the long termemployment of the 30 existing staff at the Fisherman's Retreatand also provide a further 30 job opportunities for the localcommunity.

Having regard to the above facts and the limited harm to Green Belt policy causedby the proposals, it is considered that very special circumstances do exist to justifythe grant of planning permission in this instance.