Planning Permission Change of Use in Gloucestershire

SFP are delighted to have secured the change of use of the Old Bank premises in Moreton in Marsh on behalf of its client Barons Eden.  The building was the former HSBC bank which closed in 2017 after over a 100 years of service to the town. In 2019 a planning permission to convert the property to a hotel was granted. However, the conversion works were never carried out and the building’s doors remained closed.  The present owners had previously marketed the building for sale as a hotel or a bank but without success.

SFP were approached to appraise for the client the likelihood of planning success, should a planning application for the change of use of the building to residential use be submitted. The building is a listed property, located in flood zone 2, and its use as a bank was protected by Cotswold District Council local plan policy EC8 which seeks to retain town centre uses at appropriate town centre locations.

A planning application was submitted and through the preparation of a robust planning policy argument to justify the proposed use of the building. Our statement demonstrated its compliance with relevant planning policies, whilst also relying on our client’s previous marketing information and planning permission for the change of use of the building was granted by Cotswold District Council in January 2021.

We are very pleased to have achieved this planning permission on behalf of Barons Eden and hope that the building, in its new use, can continue to have a positive contribution to Moreton in Marsh’s High Street.