Pleasing campaign progress – on every front
We’ve got lots of positive news for you this month – and it’s energising the campaign to get The White Horse open again.
In this article:
- Latest planning application rejected. What does this mean for the campaign?
- Asset of Community Value (ACV) renewal. And how the new English Devolution Bill promises to turbocharge ACV status
- Political clout. How our campaign is being supported by our political representatives at all levels
Planning Application: REJECTED!
The owner’s most recent planning application – the third – has been soundly rejected again, thanks largely to the detailed, thoughtful objections you registered in large numbers.
In reaching their decision, North Herts Council planning officers saw the clear planning policy breaches in the application, plus the overwhelming strength of community feeling about long-term neglect of a Grade II listed building.
It’s now clear to everyone that the patently unworkable nature of the ‘house and micropub’ proposal was just a cynical, thinly-veiled attempt to make a massive profit from the increased market value of a residential property.
Other comments by NHC planners:
“…loss of The White Horse as a pub would devalue the historic character of the building and wider Conservation Area.”
“…residential development will not complement the function and character of the area.”
As you can see from this, there is now NO prospect of The White Horse becoming a solely residential property — which is what the owner so clearly wanted.
This decision severely restricts his options AND it gives us huge confidence that before too long, The White Horse will be back up and running as a thriving traditional country pub.
District Council – powers to enforce
Our District Council has legal powers to ensure that owners of a listed building maintain it at all times. This includes carrying out urgent repairs to preserve our precious heritage.
The Planning Enforcement Officer’s report confirmed that, for some time, the owner had not been responding to their informal requests to carry out urgent repairs.
The report stated further that the District Council would “resurrect communications with the owner to secure the preservation of the building envelope by way of repairs to the roof and new rainwater goods, as well as any internal repairs that are considered to be urgent.”
These repairs would be solely at the cost of the owner. If the owner delays or refuses to act, the council has the power to step in and complete these repairs —and charge the owner for them.
As you’d expect, our campaign will be monitoring progress very closely indeed.
We’ll expect to see enforcement action by the District Council before the pub is exposed to yet another winter of dilapidation.
ACV renewal – yet more good news
As well as voting for rejection of the planning application, Kimpton Parish Council (KPC) has thrown its weight behind our campaign by formally voting to request that North Herts Council renew the pub’s status as Asset of Community Value for another 5 years.
On behalf of our community, we offer the KPC our grateful thanks for its continued support. We now look forward to the District Council confirming the extension of ACV status.
ACV listing has always been an important factor in deciding planning applications. It proved crucial for us in getting the recent application rejected.
ACV also acts a buffer for communities — giving them a 6-month exclusive right to bid window should the owner decide to put the asset on the market.
How they get around ACV – unscrupulous speculators
Unscrupulous developers and property speculators all over the country — equipped with far deeper pockets than local communities —have exploited Asset of Community Value (ACV) pubs for large financial gain.
Their strategy? Denial, dilapidation, and inflated valuations that strip communities of their cherished pubs, while they secure lucrative windfalls for themselves.
But new legislation now ‘before the House’ could change all that.
Up till now, owners like the one we have can close their ACV-listed pub, deny the community the social value of the asset then let it decay — with no repercussions or consequences, thereby defeating the very purpose of ACV designation.
The new Bill – more power to communities
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill — now in its second reading in Parliament —will stiffen the spine of ACV by giving communities not just ‘the right to bid’ but ‘the right to buy’ at a fair price.
All major political parties had similar proposals in their election manifestos. So you can understand our optimism that with such strong cross party support, enhanced ACV protections will become law in the very near future.
‘Right to BID’, ‘Right to BUY’ — What’s the difference?
Right to Buy is outlined in Clause 60 and Schedule 27 of the new Bill. When an ACV asset is put up for sale, community groups will be given the first chance to purchase it.
The community group and owner then negotiate and agree a fair price. OR an independent valuer sets a price based upon a fair market value as a pub in its actual condition.
Recent independent valuation of The White Horse and publicly available information on other local and national pub sales, gives us a very clear benchmark for a fair purchase price based on market value and current condition.
The new Bill extends the moratorium on the sale of the ACV asset from 6 months to 12 months, giving community groups like ours significantly more time to raise the money.
These new measures are part of what we’ve been campaigning for. So once this is on the Statute Books, it will be very useful indeed — not just for our campaign but for more than 400 other communities around the country campaigning to save their pubs.
Strong political support for SOWH – at all levels
On the subject of good news – we’ve been receiving excellent and ongoing support at all political levels — Kimpton Parish Council, newly-elected North Herts Councillor and District Councillor, Ralph Muncer and our Parliamentary representative in Westminster, Alistair Strathern MP.
Alistair is now consulting with Westminster colleagues on several matters related to current ownership of the building.
It’s GOOD news folks! So join us and be part of the action
You can see how busy we’ve been as a campaign group —and how determined we are to restore the pub to our community and get its doors open for trading again.
The White Horse is coming back. We’re very confident about that, and we think you should be as well.
This is the point in the campaign where we need your ideas, your expertise and your practical help.
If you’re behind the campaign, please get your friends and family to follow us on social media. Click to become a registered SOWH supporter and receive exclusive email updates on our campaign.
We’ll almost certainly have even more positive news for you in our next update. Including details about the forthcoming White Horse PopUp pub event.
Get in touch with us at any time: campaign@saveourwhitehorse.co.uk
Thank you for your all your support, now and in the future!
The White Horse Team