THE partner of controversial West Somerset councillor Marcus Kravis has been given 12 months to comply with a planning enforcement order.

Cara Strom, who runs the Anchors Drop public house in Blue Anchor, formerly The Blue Anchor Hotel, has been told to stop using part of the property for residential and to remove all fixtures and fittings.

She was refused planning permission by the former Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) for a change of use of part of the building from garage and storerooms in connection with the hotel to use as a residential dwelling.

The council later served an enforcement notice giving her six months to comply, but Ms Strom appealed the decision to the Planning Inspectorate.

Now, planning inspector Peter Jarratt has sided with SWT and turned down the appeal, but allowed Ms Strom a year instead of six months to comply.

Cllr Kravis, who served on SWT until it was disbanded in April and now sits on Somerset Council, was previously given retrospective permission for six static caravans in the grounds of the pub on the casting vote of the SWT planning committee chairman Cllr Simon Coles.

He later threatened legal action against SWT when it refused permission for solar panels to be installed on the caravan roofs and on the pub, together with some ground-mounted arrays.

However, he then submitted an amended plan for the solar panels to be fitted only on the caravans, which was approved.

Mr Jarratt said Ms Strom’s appeal centred on technical claims that SWT had not correctly drawn lines on a map showing on which part of the premises the planning breach was alleged and had not been clear about what action it expected her to take.

However, he said such issues could easily be corrected by re-wording the enforcement notice and changing the map markings.

Mr Jarratt said SWT was clear that it considered residential use associated with the site was for the manager’s accommodation and not to be used independently of the pub.

He said the works carried out by Ms Strom represented a material change of use of part of the building from hotel-related use to residential accommodation, for which planning permission was required for conversion.

Ms Strom, who works for Somerset Council as a refugee housing officer, has closed the Anchors Drop until 2024 because of ongoing work by the unitary authority to place 13,500 tonnes of rock armouring along cliffs beneath the pub to prevent further coast erosion.