New committee being set up after party house row

Darren Swayne, who runs Hill House, said he had incurred £70,000 in legal and planning fees

A council has said it will set up a new panel to tackle unresolved planning applications following a long-running dispute over a boutique hotel.

South Norfolk Council wants to address criticism it received over how it handled a years-long dispute with the owner of Hill House in Saxlingham Nethergate.

Its owner succeeded in overturning an attempt by the council to shut down the hotel, glamping and party venture - which villagers claimed brought excessive noise and drunken visitors to the area.

Conservative cabinet member for planning, Lisa Overton-Neal, said she hoped the new panel would "move things forward in a more positive way".

"We were all disappointed by the decision made by the Planning Inspectorate but we never know which way these cases are going to go," Overton-Neal said.

"We are setting up a new panel to look at new cases which have gone unresolved for six months or more to review how these are being dealt with."

The panel is expected to meet for the first time in January, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

While its focus would not be on resolved cases such as Hill House, it would aim to bring a quicker conclusion to any similar disputes arising in the future.

Independent John Cook, who was elected on a pledge to tackle residents' concerns over Hill House, told a recent council meeting he wanted "strengthened" enforcement action to avoid similar rows rumbling on for so many years.

Hill House first started hosting guests in 2007

After the Planning Inspectorate decision, Darren Swayne, who runs Hill House, revealed he had incurred £70,000 in legal and planning fees over the years.

The Planning Inspectorate imposed no conditions on Mr Swayne, meaning he was free to continue running his business without constraint.

He insisted the issues raised by some locals were "non-existent" and stressed that noise control measures would remain in place at the venue, including the use of signage and sound monitoring.

"We've had to fight so hard to prove what we've all known from the beginning – that this house and everything we do here is lawful," he said at the time.