A historic pub, which is said to serve the best fish and chips in Cornwall, didn’t get the battering it might have expected when it came before a planning committee for building an outside bar without permission.

A retrospective planning application by the Grade II listed Three Pilchards Inn at Polperro was called in by local Cornwall councillor Edwina Hannaford in support of objections by the parish council, meaning it had to be decided by committee rather than by planning officers behind closed doors.

The pub sits in an area of outstanding natural beauty and Polperro’s conservation area.

Cornwall Council’s east area planning committee heard this week that the pub – which TripAdvisor judged as serving the best fish and chips in the Duchy last year as measured by public reviews – replaced a shed used to smoke food with a larger timber framed bar alongside timber decking, overlooking the harbour, at the beginning of 2022.

A planning report recommended approval of the retrospective application, stating the new structure is visible from medium to longer range views and would result in a degree of minor harm to the setting of the conservation area and listed building status. However, “on balance, it is considered the benefits from the scheme, which would support a local business, would outweigh the limited harm”.

Polperro Community Council argued that the new bar was in contravention of the Neighbourhood and Local Plan. In a statement, it said: “Seating has been rearranged to allow people to look directly over the valley and hence directly overlook properties below in the village and directly into properties on the opposite side of the valley. Privacy is compromised.”

The meeting was shown a number of photographs from different angles and from across the village showing the new bar structure.

Jude Greville, vice-chair of the parish community council, said at this week’s meeting: “We’re passionate about protecting the conservation area, which was designated in 1969 – one of the first in the whole country. Prior to this an Article 4 direction had been in place since 1957, so Polperro’s unique environment has been valued in planning terms for more than 65 years.

“The pub’s own advertising states that its rooftop harbour-view beer garden is one of the things which makes it so unique. Clearly, it is obvious that if customers in the beer garden can enjoy views of the harbour then people in the harbour have a very clear view of the new building in the beer garden.

“We called for enforcement action when it was constructed in February 2022 after receiving numerous complaints due to its size and the impact it immediately had on views. At a meeting with Cornwall councillor Olly Monk in May 2022 it was one of a number of developments that was looked at and discussed as a threat to the integrity of Polperro’s conservation area.”

She said the retrospective planning and listed consent applications were finally received in November 2022 and discussed at the community council’s December meeting, which was attended by Cornwall councillor Armand Toms and the publicans.

“With local knowledge and the benefit of photographic evidence it was apparent to us that assertions in the application that the new build was on the footprint of a previous building were completely untrue,” added Cllr Greville. “We addressed this matter with Mr and Mrs Courtis (the publicans) who conceded that we were correct. They revealed that their builder had told them he would create the biggest building he thought would be acceptable without having to make a planning application. They accepted that this advice had been incorrect and believed they would rightly be told to demolish it.

“They asked whether they would be allowed to keep it for the coming season and remodel it for the winter we are now approaching. In effect, the delays which have taken us to today’s meeting have given them what they asked for, but our understanding was that they would expect a refusal.”

Cllr Greville concluded: “To approve would be to hammer yet another nail in the coffin of Polperro’s conservation area and to completely undermine Polperro Community Council.”

Councillors, who were told there weren’t any public comments against the application the council’s planning portal, then heard from landlord Daniel Courtis, who runs the Three Pilchards on behalf of Punch Taverns.

He said: “A lot of the reason for the build of the bar was health and safety – it’s a 500-year-old building, the steps going up are steep, taking drinks up and down is potentially dangerous, but also the staffing level. There’s been a nationwide shortage of staff and accommodation for staffing has gone up, so we’re finding it hard to get staff. So opening this bar has allowed us to counter those issues. From a customer’s point of view it’s a lot more beneficial than having to go up and down to order food.

“It is licensed and we do serve beer from there. We haven’t put lighting in as we thought that would be a breach on the village and would spoil people’s view to a degree. We close it as soon as it’s dark. The previous smoking shelter was about 70 per cent of the size. We’ve actually lost covers doing this bar – it wasn’t done for financial gain but more for making the pub an easier place to use and more beneficial for the customers. I don’t think anyone’s privacy has been invaded at all.”

Mr Courtis said the pub hadn’t received any complaints and he was only aware that some people had been upset by the size of the building when he and his wife attended a parish council meeting. He added that they hadn’t received a single complaint about noise since the bar opened.

“Jude is right, I did consult the builder about the size of the bar – we didn’t ask for it to be the largest we could have it without needing permissions, but he did say we wouldn’t need them and probably naively on my part I didn’t check any further and I probably should have,” added the landlord.

Cllr John Fitter responded that it appeared to be a “genuine misunderstanding by the applicant” and the business was trying to survive. Cllr Barry Jordan said: “There are no public objections and the gentleman says there have been no complaints, so I recommend approval.”

“I can see why the parish council have called this in because it is quite a visible structure and it’s not necessarily that in keeping, but having said that I do think we should be doing what we can to support local businesses. I’m not 100 per cent comfortable with it but I will probably support,” said Cllr Adrian Parsons.

The retrospective application was unanimously approved by committee members.