Restaurants serving curries and barbecues inside the helicopter after the plan is approved

The council approved a move by a Rowley Regis bar and grill to display a helicopter in their garden at the second attempt. Fourways Bar and Grill’s planning application, which has been approved by planners at Sandwell Council, will see a Westland Lynx helicopter lowered into the pub’s garden for use by up to 10 diners.

The bar and grill’s first application was rejected by Sandwell Council last year amid fears the extra customers would lead to off-street parking and more noise for neighbours. The revised plans moved the helicopter behind the garden of the bar and grill – away from the road – and lowered its platform by a metre.

But before making a decision, the council’s highways officer visited the bar and grill and found a full car park and “high levels” of on-street parking. However, the proposals would not add to the number of covers at the restaurant and therefore would not add to parking problems, the council concluded. A new outdoor seating area for up to 60 people, which proved controversial with Sandwell Council for the first time, has also been dropped in the revised application.

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Council planners said the pub did not show it could accommodate a further 70 visitors or their cars in its original plan. Drawings in the application showed the army helicopter on a raised platform with space inside for up to ten people to eat and drink. A new outdoor seating area for up to 60 people would also have been built.

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Two plans for a new outdoor seating area were rejected by Sandwell Council in 2022 over fears that extra customers would flood the pub’s car park and cause problems at a busy junction. Rejecting the application last year, Sandwell Council planners said the helipad and elevated platform would be “overly prominent” and “out of character for the area”.

“The proposal to create outside seating areas is of serious concern as there are houses on Portway Road and Portway Hill close to the site and residents are likely to be adversely affected by noise from up to 70 customers using the outside areas,” they said the planners. The council said the Rowley Regis pub needed to show how it could cope with parking from the proposed extra customers and planners were concerned it would cause road safety problems if allowed to go ahead.