THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACTION - THE COMMUNITY RESPONSE WAS LOUD AND CLEAR!
Many of you will already be aware that in the face of overwhelming opposition from the village community and a range of groups consulted as part of the planning process, Cartwrights withdrew their application to demolish the pub and build houses.
Thank you to all who wrote to object and were so supportive of us in the process – there were almost 100 objections logged which is amazing – usually a dozen or so is considered significant by planners so the sheer volume of responses is testament to the will of the community: it left the planning department in no doubt as to our opinion!
We are grateful to the Parish Council who funded us to instruct a planning and heritage consultant to support our work. We were given excellent guidance by this planning expert who produced a very detailed response on our behalf, and in the process of her investigations found some very interesting history for the pub and the village. Apparently it was previously called ‘The Gardeners Arms’ and the Allotment Society was founded there on November 2nd 1843, a year before it was sold and its name changed to ‘The Oddfellows Arms’. The value of the heritage interest of the pub’s history cannot be underestimated!
Since we shared this news via the Facebook group and other social media we have been approached by Cartwrights, who have asked us it the community are still interested in the pub. We have told them that we are and have made an initial proposal which they are considering.
We continue to look at community ownership as the preferred option, working with advice from the Plunkett Organisation and others.
Opmerkingen