DEMOLITION THREAT FOR TOWN PUB

Plans made for The Flying Horse to become five residential houses

A PROMINENT Leek pub is facing demolition.

A planning application has been submitted to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to demolish The Flying Horse Inn and replace it with five houses.

The pub sits on the main roadside gateway to the town on Ashbourne Road, opposite Leek Moorlands Hospital.

The application put forward by Mr J Taff proposes the demolition of the public house in its entirety, with the erection of three dwellings at the front of the site facing onto the Ashbourne Road, and two detached dwellings to the rear of the site, fronting onto Prospect Road.

Vehicular access is also proposed off Pickwood Avenue, serving a shared parking area of six spaces.

A planning statement, submitted on behalf of the applicant by Rob Duncan Planning Consultancy, said: “The Flying Horse Inn was previously owned by Admiral Taverns and was placed on the market by them in January 2020. The property was subsequently acquired by the applicant in December 2020.

“The application site encompasses a plot that extends to 0.12 hectares in area.

“The site is located within the defined settlement boundary of Leek, as set out within the recently adopted Staffordshire Moorlands Local Plan.

“Within such areas new residential development is acceptable in principle

“The submitted proposal is acknowledged to involve the loss of a public house, which constitutes a ‘community facility.’

“Policy C1 of the Local Plan confirms that the council will resist the loss of a community facility unless an alternative facility of the same type and quality that meets the needs of the community is available in the locality.

“In this particular case the application site is noted to lie within easy walking distance of the town centre (900m), which is well within the 2km recognised threshold for walking.

“The town centre has a number of public houses on offer, and which provide similar facilities to those that were previously on offer at the Flying Horse Inn.

“It is also highlighted that the Flying Horse Inn has been actively marketed as a going concern on behalf of the previous owners, Admiral Taverns.

“Correspondence from the marketing agent involved in disposing of the premises confirms that the property had an initial asking price of £325,000 which was subsequently reduced twice down to £275,000.

“The report from the marketing agent confirms that a total of 7,356 sets of details were sent to interested parties, and that the site was continuously marketed between January 2020 and December 2020 via a number of websites.

“Most pertinently, it is confirmed that there were only two offers made, and in both cases the interest was in acquiring the site for redevelopment and not for reuse as a public house or other community facility.

“The marketing exercise carried out lends further support to the submitted proposal and leads me to conclude that the proposed development does not derive any conflict with policy C1 of the Local Plan.”

A decision is expected by planners within the next eight weeks.