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The owners of a rural pub have won planning permission to convert the property for residential use, despite local concerns about the loss of a “community facility”.

The Berezinski family applied to carry out the works at The Llanfabon Inn, near Nelson, after attempts at a sale reportedly failed to attract a buyer “at realistic market value”.

Council planning officers have approved two versions of the conversion proposal – one to transform the pub into a single family home, and the other to divide it into two properties.

The planners noted the Llanfabon pub is “no longer operating” and already contains a flat on the upper floor “ancillary to the public house use”.

The plans for the two-home conversion drew one objection from a neighbour, who raised concerns the redevelopment could “domesticate and urbanise the countryside”.

The objector also claimed a pub is a “community facility and should be retained”.

Council planners disagreed, however, stating the proposed work would “not result in the domestication or urbanisation of an otherwise rural setting, or the unacceptable loss of developed countryside”.

Planning rules mean community facilities can only be redeveloped if a “comparable replacement” is built nearby or if it “can be demonstrated that the facility is surplus to requirements”.

The council’s planning officers judged the pub had “not been operating since December 2023” and the applicants had put the property on the market but couldn’t secure a sale.

Owing to that, the officers decided the pub could be considered “surplus to requirements” and “as such, it is considered that the loss [of the pub] is justified”.

No public objections were lodged regarding the proposed one-home conversion.