A Kenilworth outdoor bar may now find it harder to host its popular community events after the district council approved stricter controls on how it operates.

Warwick District Council's cabinet yesterday (September 29) approved plans to immediately impose an article four direction on the Garden Bar at the Pavilion.

The order means that the Castle Road venue will now be forced to apply for planning permission before hosting its regular weekend events after complaints from locals and Kenilworth Town Council prompted WDC into action.

The Castle Pavilions site - which is currently up for sale - had previously been able to host events under Temporary Event Notice (TEN) licences and its permitted development rights.

But the new order will give the local authority greater control over what happens at the venue.

Chief executive Chris Elliot explained: "It is clear to me that what is happening is that the temporary events notices are creating opportunities on land and property outside of the planning system. 

"The only way we can regain any sort of control is to bring it within the planning system, hence using an article four direction which doesn't ban it, it just means they have to apply for planning permission."

Having applied the order, the council will now undertake a public consultation and review the situation, potentially removing the controls if they are deemed unnecessary.

Councillors were told that they could have held the consultation and investigated the issue further before imposing the order, but the cabinet voted in favour of immediate action.

Cllr Moira-Ann Granger warned that the council should gather all the information before making a decision.

"Just because we know that this has caused aggravation and work it still hasn't had a proper public consultation and it is a very sledgehammer attack if we go straight forward without having had that," she said.

"As a council I think we should go through the full process. 

"I get the feeling that the people in Kenilworth feel like they should be looked at as a special case, as would the people in Leamington or on the Emscote Road, and then we end up with endless people who think their area is of special concern. 

"So I think we have to go through the entire process."

But Cllr Richard Hales said there was a delicate balance between protecting the business and the impact on local residents.

"We have a local resident here who has created a business with the idea of trying to create something different for the residents of Kenilworth and the district," he said. 

"There is that balance between the entrepreneurship that that family has taken in these times to drive footfall into the town, compared with the concerns of residents which have been numerous and continual.

"This is something that we as a council cannot allow to continue in other areas, so it is important that we do what is right for the residents, not discounting the work that the family have done for the business."