ABOUT THIS BLOG

This popular and historic pub was acquired by its owners in 2009 with a view, initially, to building flats for social housing and then subsequently developing a small housing estate. Local residents opposed these plans from the start.

Planning permission was granted in 2010 after which the site was put up for sale. After many years of inactivity, building work finally started in July 2015. Locally, this was seen as good news. However, the houses have yet to be completed.

The aim of this Blog has been to keep residents informed of current developments and to record the long history of this small community's fight to keep its pub.

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Communication from the New Owners

So now we know.  The pub has definitely been sold and the new owners intend to submit a new planning application.  The pub has been bought by Stoke-on-Trent based Milwood Ltd and The Blog has received the following email from their representative.  Without making any judgement either way, it has to be said that the email in itself represents a step in the right direction amounting to 100% more communication than we received from the previous owners!  Anyway, here is the text of the email.  All comments (printable ones only please!) welcome.

"Dear All,
I became aware of your Blog with regard to the above property, and would like to make an entry into the same.
Given the previous Planning Applications, Ward Councillor and local community objection and involvement etc, I felt it only right and proper to contact you with regard to the same.
I will also be sending an email to all three of the Ward Councillors, to advise them accordingly.
We, being Milwood Ltd, are proposing to re-develop the above property, and will shortly be submitting a Planning Application to Stafford Borough Council for that purpose.
As you are aware, the property received a Planning Permission (10/14268/FUL) on the 15th December 2010 for the development of seven detached dwellings, being made up of two 2 storey dwellings and five 2 ½ storey dwellings.
Our proposal is identical to that of the previous Planning Permission, being for seven detached dwellings, excepting that all of our dwellings will be traditional 2 storey.
Unlike the previously approved Housetypes, that were simply created to gain a Planning Permission, ours are tried and tested formal Housetypes that offer, in my view, much greater aesthetic and architectural merit.
Furthermore, the proposed layout does also offer greater merit in these regards also.
We will maintain a separation distance from the back of Footpath to the two frontage dwellings of circa 4 to 5 metres.
A full Habitat Survey has been undertaken to quantify the question of the Bats and Badgers specifically, which I know was a previous concern.
The existing trees will be maintained, as per the previous Planning Permission.
I would hope that this proposal will be received positively, given that firstly, a Planning Permission already exists to re-develop this site, and secondly, that, in our view, our proposal does represent an improvement over that already approved, which could be implemented at anytime.
The above of course is a summary, and if I can be of any further assistance at this time, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Many thanks.
Kind Regards,"

There you  have it.  We have printed the email verbatim (apart from the signatory which we have omitted for privacy reasons).  What do you think?

4 comments:

  1. An interesting communication from the new developers seemingly intending to be "neighbourly" to the blog.An internet search of Milwood (take care of Millwood similar companies) elicits basic corporate information about them with little to apparently question.As I have more depth information available to me from published accounts it would seem that the organisation directors have fingers in many pies so this small development may not be a big priority to them,albeit Milwood itself is a small developer from the accounts.

    On to the "What do you think ?" question......I suppose that we are grateful that the original developer is no longer involved and we can only hope that he made a resounding loss on his cynical venture.
    The question now is just what is the preferred strategy of the Rough Close community.....we seem to have gone from "It will never happen,over my dead body etc" to "We have got some concessions on the fencing off of the site post demolition".
    If it is still the former we should continue to pursue the resistance to the development by all available means.We do not know how "close" the new developer is to the very developer friendly SBC,we found out by experience that the previous developer largely got anything he wanted from them.
    If it is the latter then we may as well have resigned acceptance of the demolition and development and seek out whatever "concessions" the community would like directly with the developer,as they seem to invite dialogue, rather than encounter the bureaucracy and considerable bias of SBC.
    Democracy doesn`t work (well evidenced) maybe dialogue does ? When Kofi Annan has finished in Syria maybe he can broker a deal ?
    It does seem unlikely surely that any developer would incur much in the way of cost in such a dire housing market so probably the only action that we are likely to see is the demolition of the much missed G&D which itself symbolically will surely harden attitudes even to the most consultative of developers.

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  2. Although we all loved the George & Dragon time has really arrived to move on. Sympathetic development of the site is much needed, whether that be of the actual building itself or something new. Progress often means change....we need to be informed & listened too but we must also be sensible in our requests otherwise we will continue to live with a decaying building- one that doesn't anymore enhance Rough Close. New housing in the Stone area is in very high demand and is premium priced - I don't think a developer would have much problem in selling executive style housing here & I'd rather have that than what we have at the moment. What I'd really love is the G&D with beer garden and restaurant but that isn't a reality is it...otherwise it would still be here.

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  3. A lot of houses currently for sale in Rough Close - non selling, including a large one in Sunningdale View.
    Any more news from the developers?

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  4. None at all. We were half expecting a similar approach to last time when the application was submitted when people were off on holiday but that obviously hasn't happened - yet.

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