A historic Herefordshire pub can be converted into a five-bedroom home after all.

The plan for the three-storey, grade II listed Crown & Sceptre Inn within Bromyard’s conservation area, which has been closed since 2019, was put forward by Jude Kennefick, not once but twice.

The one submitted in mid-2020 was first refused by Herefordshire Council in February 2021, then dismissed at appeal by a planning inspector last summer, although the bid for listed building consent was granted.

In this, planning inspector Gareth Thomas agreed with Mr Kennefick that the conversion would not amount to the loss of a community facility.

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But he ruled that waste water arising from the building’s proposed new use would mean a greater impact on the river Lugg special area of conservation, which environmental regulations prevent.

In light of this, a second application by Mr Kennefick for essentially the same proposal, originally submitted in July 2021, was more recently amended to include a revised drainage strategy and “nutrient budget calculation”.

This appears to have satisfied the council’s principal natural environment officer Fran Lancaster, who concluded last month that the plan “will result in a betterment over the historic use of the site”.

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Accordingly, the application for planning permission for the scheme was granted.

An earlier bid to turn the pub into three one-bedroom flats, demolish the function room to the rear and build four more flats in the grounds was approved in July 2018 but never implemented.

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