Council serves notice to stop removal of historic green tiles on Brighton pub

The owners have one year to restore the facade to its original state

Author: Jo SymesPublished 25th Apr 2022

A Brighton pub owner has been given a year to restore the removal of green tiles from the façade after complaints were made to Brighton and Hove City Council.

On 30 March the council served a temporary stop notice regarding the removal of tiles from the façade of the Montreal Arms in Hanover, after complaints had been received.

With the temporary notice due to expire shortly, owners of the Montreal Arms in Hanover have been handed an enforcement notice together with a stop notice on the removal of the tiles.

The Stop Notice takes effect on Wednesday 27th April 2022 and the Enforcement Notice takes effect on 24th May 2022 unless an appeal is made against it beforehand.

Locally listed building

The Montreal Arms is a locally listed building. This means that it has been identified as a heritage asset that is important to the local area and its people.

The council has planning policies in place to ensure that any changes requiring planning permission are of a high standard compatible with the character of the building.

Under current legislation, a temporary notice can only last for 28 days and we are not then allowed to serve another temporary stop notice. Council officers, therefore, had to consider whether further, longer-term action should be taken.

Enforcement notice

Officers have liaised with colleagues in the council's legal department and considered information provided by the owner. This included concerns regarding the building’s lintels.

In light of this, it served an Enforcement Notice together with the stop notice on the removal of the tiles. This includes an exception of permitting tiles to be removed to allow for repairs to the lintels.

It has been made clear in the notices that this exception is for the minimum number of tiles that can be removed for the purposes of repair to the lintels. The enforcement notice requires these tiles to be reinstated.

The enforcement notice also requires the reinstatement of glazed ceramic tiles to all elevations where they have been removed or damaged as a consequence of the unauthorised works. The timescale for compliance is 1 year after the notice takes effect.

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