June 17, 2015 11.14 am This story is over 105 months old

Popular Lincoln pub steered away from disputed demolition plans

Fight nearly over: City planners are recommending councillors to reject plans to demolish a popular Lincoln pub and build a care home in its place.
Monson Arms on Skellingthorpe Road, Lincoln. Photo: Richard Croft

City planners are recommending councillors to reject plans to demolish a popular Lincoln pub and build a care home in its place.

Proposals to turn the Monson Arms pub on Skellingthope Road into a 54-bed care home, after the pub was deemed “economically unviable”, were met with much local rejection.

The claim was fiercely opposed by local customers and landlady Tracie Pickard, who started a campaign to save the pub, which has been a part of the community for 52 years.

Locals in The Monson Arms Pub on Skellingthorpe Road campaigning against its closure.

Locals in The Monson Arms Pub on Skellingthorpe Road campaigning against its closure.

In addition to a Save the Monson Arms Facebook page, which received over 1,100 ‘likes’, the group set up an online petition against the plans.

Development proposals which would set in motion the demolition of the pub will go before the City of Lincoln Council’s Planning Committee on Wednesday, June 24, with a recommendation for refusal.

Design proposals for the three storey care home building.

Design proposals for the three storey care home building.

The application, submitted by Ideal Care Homes Ltd, is for a 54-bed, three storey care home.

The proposed sit layout plan for the new care home.

The proposed sit layout plan for the new care home.

Objections to the plans argued the pub offered a valued community role to Hartsholme, Birchwood and Boultham housing estates.

It is also used by groups including darts, pool, poker and football teams.

Arguments against the proposal also suggested that the care home should be built on the vacant site of the former Wildlife public house on Birchwood.

The planning manager noted in the report that there would be obvious benefits to the proposed care home to the wider local community, however officers advise that these would not outweigh the harm that would be cause by the loss of the pub as a ‘driver of social cohesion in the community'”.

A recommendation has been made to refuse the application on the grounds that the pub is a valued facility and is of community value under the Localism Act 2011.

It was also considered that the proposed building would not “sit comfortably in the context of the smaller scale of nearby buildings”, and its proximity to Skellingthorpe Road.