The developers demolished the pub last month without the required prior approval from the Council. The Council was not aware of the developer's planned works and was only notified when members of the public alerted it once the works had begun.
This week, the Council has agreed to issue an enforcement notice requiring the pub to be rebuilt within 18 months of the notice taking effect. The new pub must be rebuilt to look like the building as it stood immediately before the demolition.
A report written by the Council details how before issuing an enforcement notice, they have to consider if the building was of "sufficient quality to warrant listing as a building of special architectural or historic importance" or if the new rebuild of the pub would "retain the character and interest of the original building".
The secretary of state for culture, media and sport also had to confirm that prior to the demolition they had received a recommendation from Historic England to list the building as a building of special architectural or historic interest and that the building would have been listed.
In advance of demolishing the pub, the developer should have made an application for prior approval for the method of demolition and confirmation if the pub had been nominated as an Asset of Community Value. Once this application had been submitted, the developer should have waited for approval from the Council or proceeded with commencing demolition only after 8 weeks had expired
Developers had previously submitted a planning application and proposed to demolish and replace the pub with a six storey building, including a lower ground level, comprising of a new pub, 10 residential units with associated landscaping and cycle parking. The Council rejected this proposal as "the bulk, height and detailed design, [of] the new building would be detrimental to the view from the adjacent Maida Vale Conservation Area."
According to a local newspaper, the deputy leader of Westminster Council, Robert Davis said that "[they will] take whatever action and the power [they] have in the city council to make sure it is rebuilt and do everything [they] can with proper legal advice to get [the] pub back again".
Planning expert Jennifer Holgate of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said "Section 215 notices and enforcement proceedings are certainly being utilised frequently in the capital at the moment. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea very recently confirmed it served a section 215 notice on the owner of a property, which required a house to be repainted from red and white stripes back to its original white."
"Looking to the facts of this case relating to the pub demolition, it is particularly important for both developers and local authorities to take assess the historical character of an area and the listing of any assets of community value before undertaking a strategy for any demolition," she said. "From a developer’s perspective, both aspects will potentially delay development and this needs to be factored into timetabling and cashflow. Not complying with these key elements could lead to potentially painstaking consequences; in this case rebuilding an entire property, brick by brick."