Planning concerns raised after aircraft lands in beer garden

National park chiefs are investigating a pub landlord over claims that his beer garden is being used as a makeshift airstrip by one of his regulars.

 

Landlord Steve Cotten has admitted that one of his customers, known locally as "Dangerous Dave", occasionally takes drinkers for a "short spin" in his two-seater aircraft next to the pub, the Poltimore Arms at South Molton in Devon.

 

One of the first passengers to take flight was 90-year-old Bill Maddox who was treated to aerial views of Brayford, a village less than eight miles away.  After a flight last month planning bosses at the Exmoor National Park Authority wrote to Mr Cotten warning him that he didn't have "change of use" planning permission to allow take-offs and landings outside the pub.

 

Mr Cotten has shared the letter, from the planning investigations officer for Exmoor National Park Authority, on Facebook. 

 

Similarly the original post on Facebook that was understood to have sparked the investigation read,  "The Poltimore Arms at South Molton has renamed itself 'Yarde Down International' for the summer. The beer garden had been cleared and equipped with wind socks to monitor the weather and proper radio communications equipment."

 

Having previously hit the headlines for forcing customers to serve their own pints, Mr Cotten said the reaction from officials had been "Ridiculous. They actually think we are running an airport from our beer garden. In the videos you can see Dave taking off from the field and it is not the beer garden. Dangerous Dave just takes people up but won't go unless the weather is perfect. He only charges for petrol. It really is all just a bit of fun and a laugh. And now you have got these idiots sending a letter. It just shows how stupid the planning authority really is. It is Dave's own plane and it is a microlight. But to sit in the cockpit is awesome. It is ad hoc when we do it, but is generally every couple of months."

 

Exmoor National Park Authority has been contacted for comment but has yet to reply.

 

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