HIGHAM PUB HAS HISTORY!

What happens when two geography geeks go out for dinner, in a well known local restaurant with a 'map wall'? We talk about maps (and pubs) of course! For context, we've been researching the history of the pubs in Higham with a focus on the Oddies, but it was my birthday!!

We've now got a timeline going back to 1822 with names of publicans and all three pubs (yes we did have THREE) over the last two centuries! Fun fact: the Higham allotment society was founded in the (appropriately named) Gardeners Arms, which was the previous name for the Oddies! And so many 'village' names popping up along the way - fascinating but not something to start late in the day!!

This is going towards our submission to the Appeal Hearing to try to ensure we stop the redevelopment of the Oddies and showing how its part of our community heritage and history. We're encouraging our supporters to write in too, to highlight how important the pub is to the community.

WHAT’S THE CURRENT SITUATION?

The current owners have recently appealed the planning refusal that was issued in September. It refers to the fourth application which only included the area of The Oddies and the car park but they make reference to previous ones so feel free to do that too! The CBS and the Parish Council will both be submitting a detailed response to the appeal but we would like our supporters to submit objections too. If you submitted a response to the application last year, then you can make further comment (there’s no need to repeat what you said before). If you didn’t submit a comment as 'interested parties' to the application itself you can still do it for the appeal.

We had a brilliantly well attended community meeting last week where we shared updates on our progress and guidance on submitting comments. If you missed it and/or want to know more then get in touch, secretary.theoddies@gmail.com .

IDEAS FOR AN ‘INTERESTED PARTIES’ OBJECTION

You need to set out your objections clearly.  A letter doesn’t need to be long, but it does need to explain the grounds on which you are objecting. We have until MAY 8th to submit ‘interested party’ comments. The more we have the better, so spread the word! Let’s see if we can hit the 100 again!

Comments need to be uploaded to Appeals Casework Portal on their webpage https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/. You’ll need to create a login but its fairly straightforward after that. The reference number to put in for the case is 3357570.

This is relation to the 4th application listed on HBBC Planning portal as 24/00229/FUL.

As before, the planned change of use of the site must be assessed based on the harm/benefit to the community. A key focus this time is the loss of a community facility, lack of local services, the new housing makes this even more crucial, and the impact on social wellbeing and vulnerable members of the community. There are lots of factors you could include, and you don’t need to include everything! However, making it personal to you is great!

p.s. watch this space for a 'history of Higham pubs' talk sometime in the future!!!