PLANNERS have approved proposals which could see a former pub turned into shops.

At Southampton City Council’s planning meeting, councillors agreed to grant owners of the Big Cheese, on West End Road, a flexible use licence.

This would allow a developer to turn the site into either a retail, financial, professional services, restaurant, cafe, or drinking establishment.

The decision now paves the way for applicant MHH Poole Ltd, who bought the pub for £651,000 last year, to build on the site.

Originally MHH wanted to construct ten three-bed homes, but were rebuffed by planning officials in January, due to concerns of over-development.

However, it has lodged an appeal over that refusal – which is due to be heard in the summer.

But former council leader Simon Letts, who has backed campaigners fighting for the former pub, believes this new application is a tactic by the applicant to “weaken the standards” of planning policy on the site.

Speaking before he lost his seat on Friday, he said: “What they (MHH) wants to do, I think, is to get permission for other uses on the site so the appeal has more of a chance to go through.”

MHH could also sell the site on the open market, and with its new licence, prospective buyers could look to turn it into anything from a shop to a restaurant.

However, councillors did agree to include a condition which would mean no takeaway could be built.

When approached for comment, the applicant did not respond.

Local residents, under the banner of the Bitterne Brewery Action Group, campaigned for more than a year to keep the Big Cheese alive, after owners Greene King said that operating the pub was unsustainable and closed it last February.

The group claimed that the pub was not just used by adults, but also by families and those with physical and mental disabilities. They said it was one of the only pubs in the area that has disabled access.

Campaigners also put in an application to make the pub an asset of community value, which was subsequently granted in May last year, triggering the moratorium period.

But during that six months moratorium period no  pub operators or communities groups bid for the site.