A popular riverside Lincoln pub has been told it can’t install glamping pods due to the flooding risk.
The Pyewipe, which is located on the Fossdyke canal, had hoped to build nine huts on the neighbouring field.
The Environment Agency said there was an ‘unacceptable risk’ due to it being located in a high-risk flood area.
However the inn says that water in the canal hasn’t managed to come over the flood defences once since it started operating, and the venture would be safe.
The family-run pub opened in 1998, and is popular with boats and walkers along the Fossdyke canal with a riverside seating area.
The pods promised a luxury camping experience looking out onto the countryside, which planning documents say would have diversified the Pyewipe’s tourism business.
“Each unit would have a double bed, small seating area and bathroom,” they state.
“There would be no catering facilities, with this service being provided within the main building on a bed and breakfast basis.”
They would have been located in the field next to the car park.
It adds: “During the most recent floods in 2024, the site remained without water and completely unaffected.
“The water hadn’t broken the bank and hasn’t in the whole time the Pyewipe Inn has been operating.”
However, the Environment Agency argues there would be high risk to people or property in the area.
“It is not possible to mitigate against the depths and/or velocity of flooding that could be experienced in this hazard category, which present a danger to most,” its objection says.
The agency says the only way to prevent this would be raising the ground.
Planning officers at City of Lincoln Council also found it was an unacceptable development in open countryside, and rejected the application.
The Pyewipe was contacted for further comment.
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