Latest plan for pub in Yapton is rejected by council

Arun District Council’s planning officers have turned down the latest proposal for The Lamb Inn.

They agreed with the principle of the scheme by Orchard Homes for 13 dwellings on the site on Bilsham Road.

But the lack of an agreement by the developer to make the required contribution for the two affordable homes and other infrastructure which is needed has led to the the proposal’s rejection.

The pub recently closed, according to the council’s documents, and is boarded up. A previous application in 2011 for 14 dwellings was rejected by Arun but allowed by a planning inspector.

Orchard Homes, however, submitted the current scheme to keep the pub, in response to villagers’ requests, by converting it in to two homes to cut the total number of dwellings to 13.

A decline in demand from 107 barrels a week in 2007 to 38 barrels in 2011 made the business unviable. A pub has stood on the site since 1778. The existing building is believed to date from the 1870s but alterations led English Heritage to reject a bid to list it.