Here We Go Again

Whether Milwood Ltd bought the pub from the previous owners or not is now immaterial.  The pub is up for sale again as a development site with planning permission.

Update

Clearly someone owns the pub!  Workmen have been around this week boarding up the windows and not before time too.  Whether this is due to council or police pressure brought about to address the use of the premises for drug related activities, we don't know.

And with regard to ownership, as far as we have been able to establish, Milwood Ltd. are now the owners of the pub having negotiated the sale directly with the previous owners.  This might explain why the "for sale" sign came down before we heard that the pub had been sold. 

What happens next, though, is still anybody's guess.  Whether Milwood will sell the site on to another party or wait until economic circumstances improve remains to be seen.  And, of course, they may well have some other motive for not taking any action for the moment.  We've written to their representative who emailed us back in June but so far we have yet to receive the courtesy of a reply.  Seems to be par for the course with email.  If you don't want to reply, just ignore it.

As usual, if you hear of any other developments do let us know.

Curious & Curiouser

You may have seen the article in tonight's Sentinel reporting that Milwood Ltd. no longer intend to develop the pub site.  The article, however, does not say what the company plan to do with it.  We have written to the Milwood representative who contacted The Blog back in June and will let you know as soon as we hear something.

In the meantime, if you are able to shed any further light on the situation please get in touch.

Still No News

What more can we add?  We still haven't heard anything.  Has there been a change of plan?  Has the money dried up?  Or have the new owners got other irons in the fire which are taking priority?

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 15^th 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?

Curiouser and Curiouser

We're hearing, once more on the grapevine, that the pub might not have been sold after all (the source is a very reliable one). 

There was some activity on the site a few weeks ago involving the Fire Brigade and other visitors which we took to be a precursor to a further planning application or even demolition but now we are hearing that the sale might not have happened.

As usual, we'll let you know when we hear more.

Pub Sold?

We've just heard on the "grapevine" that the George & Dragon site has now been sold.  This is, of course, as yet unconfirmed but the "for sale" sign has now been taken down so it sounds like a pretty good bet to us.

What happens next?  We think that it is more than likely that another planning application will be submitted based on an altogether different design.  Whether or not any fresh proposals will be good or bad news for residents remains to be seen.  However, we  very much suspect that it will be a case of the latter.  If it is, then The Blog will continue to keep you informed and no doubt will we be meeting again "on the doorstep" in the not too distant future!

By the way, some unfinished business concerning the last Planning Committee meeting.   We don't believe the Development Control department correctly recorded what was agreed at the meeting regarding the need for bat and badger surveys.  We took this up with Fulford Parish Council who wrote in to SBC.  In our view, the response showed a complete lack of understanding of the situation and we have asked one of our Borough Councillors to progress the matter.   Given that the pub may now have been sold, this is probably irrelevant - for the time being at least.

As usual, we'll keep you posted.