49 Nunnery Lane, York, YO23 1AB

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Whether the proposed café would result in the loss of a community facility and cultural venue
• If so, whether that loss would be justified having regard to the evidence of viability and marketing and to the development plan and national planning policy

What decided it

The appellant's viability and marketing evidence did not demonstrate that the public house/cultural venue use could not reasonably be made viable or that there was no reasonable prospect of its retention, so the unjustified loss of the community facility and cultural venue outweighed the benefits of the café proposal.

the substantial adverse impact of the unjustified loss of a community facility and cultural venue substantially outweighed the moderate benefits of re-use of the building and associated employment opportunities, so the presumption in Policy S4 did not indicate permission should be granted