Banqueting plan for historic building turned down

The Rowans was built as part of a school in 1835

Plans to bring a historic building in Leicester back into use as a banqueting hall have been refused over concerns about potential noise and traffic.

The Rowans, a 19th Century former school in College Street, had been earmarked as a wedding venue under plans lodged with Leicester City Council.

A planning application for the building was submitted by Oshaesh Ltd which wanted to bring the vacant property back into use as space capable of hosting up to 350 people.

However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said planning officers at the authority have refused permission for the project.

While the authority judged the proposed new use to be "acceptable in principle", they felt day-to-day operations there would result in "severe" impacts for neighbours and on the surrounding roads.

The proposed hours of the venue, up to 23:30 BST, would "result in significant noise pollution and disturbance to the area," officials said.

They concluded it would cause "unacceptable harm to residential amenity" in nearby streets.

They also said the proposal did not have enough parking spaces and would likely lead to traffic congestion and safety issues nearby.

'Long-term use'

The applicant suggested 65 parking spaces were available to the venue, but planning officers said some of them did not meet the required size standard, leading to a "loss" of 14 spaces.

Additionally, 33 of the spaces counted by the applicant were shared with neighbouring Collegiate House which could result in a parking "clash" and "competing" use.

The council said the transport assessment included with the plan did not "appear to take into account" staff parking or spaces for performers at events.

Plans suggested there would be 17 full-time staff at the venue as well as eight part-timers.

Officers said it was unclear whether this number included all of the required visitors such as music performers and caterers.

Officers said bringing the property, which has been disused since 2017, back into use was considered a positive step, but they did not feel a banqueting hall was "the only viable use" for it.

Documents drawn up by Oshaesh Ltd said: "This proposal has been designed to secure viable long-term use of a heritage asset which has been vacant for some time.

"The re-use of the heritage asset must reflect its historical significance as a place for meetings and gatherings which a wedding venue would realise."

Additional reporting by Dan Martin