Officers recommend refusal for demolition and replacement of former Windmill Rooms in March

Plans to demolish a former popular March venue and replace it with a four-bedroom family home look set for refusal.

Planning officers are recommending an application by M R Khan to demolish the Windmill Function Rooms in Whitemoor Road and replace them with a two-storey family home for refusal.

Fenland District Council’s planning committee is set to discuss the application at its meeting on Wednesday (15).

A report by officers explains the application does not meet local planning policy including proving the house is needed for the effective operation of local agriculture, horticulture, forestry, outdoor recreation, transport, or utility services.

The report says Mr Khan has failed to demonstrate there would be an “essential need” that would meet policy requirements.

The site is also within Flood Zone 3 – the highest risk of flooding – and the report says the applicant has failed to demonstrate that it is not possible for the development to be located on a site with a lower risk of flooding.

However, March Town Council has supported the application.

A design and access statement drawn up by Peter Humphrey Associates in support of the application argues replacing the function rooms with a family home is the only sustainable use for the brown field site.

The statement explains Mr Khan has owned the site for approximately 15 years and it was run as a successful function room.

However, due to its location and covid it has become unviable, and since being closed has been subject to break-ins, arson attempts, and drug cultivation.

It also points out the barn conversion-style home being planned “respects the local contest that it will integrate with”.

But an adjoining neighbour claims the boundary is incorrect and argues that a bungalow would be preferred to avoid over-looking.

Another neighbour has concerns over the demolition of the function rooms, which he fears may contain asbestos.

The statement agues that there are nine other properties along the road as well as a barn with planning permission to be converted into a home.

It adds: “The proposal has been sympathetically designed to be in keeping with the adjacent dwelling with the use of timber boarding, but designed as a barn conversion style dwelling to keep the rural feel of the site and surrounding area.”