By Mark Andrews

Copyright expressandstar

Wolverhampton Rugby Union Football Club has been told it must remove the portable building that was erected without permission at its ground in Castlecroft Road.

Simone Tomlinson, on behalf of the club, urged South Staffordshire Council to look upon the application favourably.

She said the application was for a small-scale portable unit, located in a discrete location, adjacent to the existing club house.

“The portable cabin is necessary to allow the rugby club to hold private meetings, as the existing rugby club does not provide any private meeting space,” Miss Tomlinson added.

She emphasised the small-scale nature of the development, and the lack of meeting space within the existing clubhouse.

She added that the cabin was only expected to be there for three-to-five years.

But senior planning officer Laura Moon said the primary user of the cabin was a private business called Jobsworth.

“It was confirmed that Wolverhampton Rugby Club receives income from Jobsworth for hosting the cabin on site,” she said.

Mrs Moon said that while green belt planning policy generally permitted minor development which was ancillary to sporting activity, that was not the case with this scheme.

“While the portable cabin is modest in scale and temporary in nature, its primary use by Jobsworth, a private company, means it does not constitute an appropriate facility for outdoor sport or recreation,” she said.

“The cabin is not ancillary to the rugby club’s sporting function, but instead serves a commercial purpose, which falls outside the scope of what is considered appropriate development in the green belt.

“As such, the proposal does not preserve the openness of the green belt and conflicts with its purposes, particularly in terms of introducing non-essential built form and non-sporting activity into a location intended to remain open and undeveloped.

“The development is therefore considered inappropriate in the green belt.”

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