Destination Harbourside Harbour Road Lydney Gloucestershire GL15 4ER Data via plota.co.uk

P0503/26/FUL - Full Application Approved

Proposal

Retention of temporary modular building for E(b) use for a further 5 year fixed term Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
29 Apr 2026
✓
Validated
12 May 2026
✓
Consultation
3 Jul 2026
✓
Committee
14 Jul 2026
✓
Approved
15 Jul 2026

Approved on 15 Jul 2026 · Committee Decision · Last checked 15 Jul 2026

Planning committee

Decided by Forest of Dean Development Management Committee on 14 Jul 2026.

Approved

As officers recommended.

  • Officers advised approval because the café’s economic and tourism benefits outweighed its limited visual harm, subject to a five-year removal condition.
  • No objections or support were presented, while members valued the café but questioned repeated temporary permissions and its heritage design.
  • Members voted unanimously to grant permission with an informative note and removal of the structure five years after permission.
Read how the committee decided The proposal, site history, officers’ assessment, consultation, committee debate, vote and final decision.

Source: Plota analysis of Forest of Dean's committee minutes of 14 Jul 2026.

Site constraints 7

Flood zone 3, rivers and sea
High chance: a 1 in 100 or greater annual chance from rivers, or 1 in 200 from the sea. Any development here needs a flood risk assessment. Defences are not counted.
The Environment Agency flood map for planning. Homes in zone 3 must also pass the sequential test. Surface water flooding is a separate map.
Flood map ↗
Scheduled monument about 23 m away: Lydney Harbour
Its setting is a consideration for work nearby.
Nationally important archaeology protected by the Secretary of State. Work that affects the monument or its setting is rarely permitted.
Historic England ↗
Special area of conservation about 54 m away: Severn Estuary
Work nearby can need a habitats assessment.
Harm to a protected site is only accepted where there is no alternative and an overriding public interest.
Agricultural land, grade 2
Best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s), which most planning maps still show, had this area as grade 1. The predicted grade is Defra's current estimate; only a site survey settles it.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
SSSI about 54 m away: Spring Cove Cliffs SSSI
Natural England may need consulting, depending on what is proposed.
Sites of special scientific interest are the best wildlife and geological sites in the country. Development likely to harm one is rarely permitted.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
Heritage at risk about 23 m away: Lydney Docks and Harbour, Naas Lane.
Not affected
Not green belt

Checked on 11 September 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Application type
Full Application
Postcode
GL15 4ER
Received
29 Apr 2026
Validated
12 May 2026
Ward
Lydney East
Parish
Lydney
Case officer
Show
Target decision
7 Jul 2026
Decision
Granted Permission
Decision date
15 Jul 2026
Decision level
Committee Decision
Applicant
Show

How this decision compares

Decided in 64 days from validation, 7 days slower than Forest of Dean's median of 57 for changes of use. Approved, as 88% of changes of use here are.

50%decided within 8 weeks
88%approved
5%go to committee

Plota live figures for changes of use decided by Forest of Dean in the last twelve months, from validation. Forest of Dean decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Alt. reference
DF8370
Consultation
3 Jul 2026
Site or press notice
23 Jun 2026
Committee
14 Jul 2026
Env. assessment
No
Forest of Dean
Planning Authority Score
5.7/10
Average
#114 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Forest of Dean ranks #149 out of 296 councils for householder decision speed. 49% of applications have the time limit extended, above the 41% national average. Householder applications are more likely to be approved here than most councils, with a 98% approval rate vs 90% nationally.

More permissive than most councils
98% approved vs 90% nationally
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Forest of Dean decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
92%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #82 of 296
98%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #16 of 296
64%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #149 of 296
49%
Extended time limit
Above avg (41%) #219 of 296
72%
Minor dwellings approved
85 decided (1-9 homes)
100%
Major dwellings approved
1 decided (10+ homes)
89%
Change of use approved
9 decided
561
Total decisions
43 refused in the year to March 2026