A number of parishioners have raised to the Parish Council the topic of the Crown and Cushion public house not reopening, and have asked what can be done to encourage re-opening and also for some clarification of this position relating to the Parish Council and the listing of these premises as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).
Firstly, we will recognise that this is a highly emotive subject. The Council appreciates the strength of feeling with which some residents discuss this topic, but the Council will stick to the facts of the matter, as we must in all topics.
Next we should remind ourselves that the Crown and Cushion is a private enterprise and as such the owners have every right to run their business as they see fit within the regulations and permissions that govern business and use of commercial premises. Whilst we see other pubs opening and seemingly busy, whether or not to re-open in the short-term is a decision for each business to make against their particular chosen criteria and the background of ongoing COVID.
Looking to the longer-term, however, the Parish Council agrees wholeheartedly with the comments made by a number of parishioners that, and we will quote directly here, “Communities will often congregate around a well-run pub, providing a welcoming meeting place and hub for locals”. To this end the Parish Council has ensured that the pub has been subject to an Asset of Community Value listing during the tenure of at least the current and previous owners, with the objective of preventing the pub being sold for development and conversion into private dwellings without the Community first having the opportunity to buy it instead.
And so to the subject of the ACV.
The Asset of Community Value listing has a narrow focus, providing only for a situation where the owner of a listed asset wishes to sell their business premises. In such a scenario, the ACV listing requires that the local community be given the opportunity to put together a purchase proposal and funding to back this up, and provides some prescribed timescales for such community activity to take place.
The ACV timeline looks like this: –
If the owner of an ACV listed asset wishes to sell they must notify the Local Planning Authority who granted the listing, in this case Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC), who will then notify the persons or organisation that requested the listing, Great Gransden Parish Council.
The Planning Authority places a 6 week moratorium on the owner being allowed to market the property for sale, during which the community may express an interest in buying the asset.
At the point that the Community says there is no interest in buying the asset the ACV is discharged and the owner may market the asset publicly and sell to any buyer.
If the Community does express an interest in buying the asset the 6 week moratorium ends and a new period starts; a 6 month hold on the sale of the pub to allow the Community to put together a purchase proposal and to secure the necessary funding to back up this offer. During this period the premises may also be marketed commercially, but no sale can be agreed before the ACV hold period is complete.
The 6-month hold period ends when no suitable offer has been made by the Community at the end of the period, when an offer is made by the Community and accepted by the vendor or when the Community declares that their desire to buy the asset has ceased.
There is no requirement placed upon the vendor to accept any offer made by the Community over any other commercial offer, even if the Community offer matches or is higher than the commercial offer, only that the offer must be given the time to be created and presented.
If the owner of an ACV listed asset chooses to not re-open for business, there is no means via the ACV to force.
This is the full extent of the provision provided by the ACV listing.
If the owner of any Commercial premises permanently ceases the commercial activity for which they have permission and decides instead to occupy the premises as a domestic dwelling, this becomes a matter for the Planning Authority in relation to enforcement and the use of Commercial premises for a purpose other than that for which they have permission.
The Planning Authority can give the owner options to comply with the stated use of the premises, such as re-opening, or the alternative option of applying for Change of Use, either to a different Commercial purpose, if they wish to operate a different business from the premises, or for Change of Use to a domestic dwelling.
If the owner of an ACV listed asset chooses to apply for Change of Use the ACV listing provides no direct means to stop this.
When considering a request for Change of Use on an ACV listed asset, the Planning Authority will be made aware of the ACV listing. It may choose to give weight to the ACV as part of the decision making process, but there is no direct requirement for them to refuse the Change of Use based on the existence of the ACV listing.
In such circumstances the weight of feeling voiced by the community would hopefully place pressure on the Planning Authority to consider an ongoing desire in the Community for the original commercial use of the ACV listed premises, and lead it to refuse the Change of Use accordingly.
The Great Gransden Parish Council has, on more than one occasion, sought advice from HDC on how they would view Change of Use of an ACV asset in our village, and the response from HDC has disappointingly been consistently unenthusiastic about the weight the ACV would bring to bear on any decision.
The Parish Council will continue to seek further engagement from HDC and will look to explore all the possible alternative outcomes with the assistance of our District and County Councillors and other elected local representatives to optimise the benefit that the ACV listing of such assets in our community brings.
For the time being at least, this is as much as the Parish Council can tell you about the current situation. We hope that, as Covid recedes and normal life properly returns, we will see the Crown and Cushion open once more…
Having said all that, as with any commercial enterprise, there is nothing to stop another business or consortium of interested parties securing funds and making an offer to purchase business premises from their current owners at any time, but the Parish Council has neither the funds nor the remit within it’s constitution to lead such an action. The PC would, of course, provide whatever support it could to any Community group(s) should such an initiative be started in the face of the loss of an Asset of Community Value.
There are a number of resources available online for Community groups to use to guide them in their approach to creating a buy-out offer and how a Community-owned business can be set up and run, and a current Government matched-funding initiative to make exactly these kinds of offers more viable in small communities: –
In the prospectus for this initiative the Government makes it clear who it expects to be leading such buy-out groups when it says, “Local authorities and town, parish and community councils will not be eligible to apply. However, we hope that councils right across the United Kingdom will play an active role in supporting their local community groups to apply.”
Whether or not such an offer would be well received would depend on the nature/size of the offer and the intentions and plans of the current business owners. Any agreement to sell would trigger the ACV process as outlined above, although clearly a Community offer would instantly fulfil the requirements of the ACV.
We hope this helps everyone with concerns to understand the facts of the current position a little better.