THE owners of a Dorset village restaurant will be allowed to convert the building into their home – against the recommendation of planning officers.

They argued for Le Petit Canard site in Maiden Newton to remain in commercial use and recommended refusing the change of use.

But, to quote a pun from Cllr Bill Pipe, most people knew the business, after Covid, was a “a dead duck.”

Despite its reputation for fine dining, mainly in French style, the owners of the tiny restaurant, who had run it for 22 years, decided the time for sit-in dining at the premises was over.

The couple will still continue to run an outside catering business, cooking in people’s homes, and are still offering a food collection, to order, service on Fridays and Saturdays, something which they started during Covid restrictions.

Owner Cathy Craig, called on councillors to take a “real world” decision and not force the couple to prove that the business was unlikely to be taken over by anyone else and to incorporate the restaurant section of the building into their home, which is on the premises.

She told the Dorset Council area planning committee that no one had objected to the change and she and husband Gerry, who had done most of the cooking, had been told by an etstate agent that it was extremely unlikely the building could be sold for another commercial use.

“This is a real world outcome, not the dogmatic strict application of policy,” said Mrs Craig, adding that if they were to put it on the market the outcome was certain to be the same.

Weymouth councillor Louie O’Leary said it was bizarre to force the couple to prove a negative: “It’s a private business, if they wish to convert it into the house we should not stand in their way…we have no business micro-managing restaurants in Maiden Newton,” he said.

Ward councillor Tony Alford, describing the planning officer view as ‘somewhat curious’.

“It should be obvious to all that the economics of a small restaurant like Le Petit Canard will never work in this day and age,” he said.

Cllr Nick Ireland sided with the planning officers, saying that they had little choice, given council policy, but to make the recommendation to refuse until a sound case could be made that the business was no longer financially viable and no other commercial uses could be found for the site -  but, he said, common sense would suggest there was nothing wrong with converting the building, especially as there would be little change to the appearance and local people and organisations backed the move.

The planning application, agreed on a 9-1 vote, to allow the conversion of the building into a four-bed home, incorporating a flat and office which is already in place on the first floor. The changes are said to only involve minor changes to the outside of the building.

More than a dozen residents had written to support the changes, some saying the restaurant’s closure would help other local facilities to become more profitable and that a change to another use might not be so suitable for homes nearby if it were to be a noisier use.