Monday 30 July 2012

Youtube video - What a sorry state the Historic Tavern has been left to become.

Version 1:  


Version 2:   


This video depicts the current condition of the Morden Tavern. 

Saturday 28 July 2012

July 2012 newsletter


July 2012 Newsletter

The St Helier Pub Group

(Formerly The Campaign for the Morden Tavern)

Public Hearing - Wednesday 1st August
Morden Civic Centre
Starting at 9.30am

HELP US SAVE YOUR PUB


  • The St Helier Pub Group are appealing to all residents who are able to visit the hearing on the 1st August to show they care about our historic asset.
  • This is your opportunity to speak to and/or listen if you wish to an independent inspector who will decide the fate of the Morden Tavern.
  • The developer Reef Estates wants to build shops and flats on the Public House forever removing the chance of St Helier Estate having a community hub.
  • The St Helier Pub Group intend to open the pub as a cooperative owned public house run by the community for the community. 



Let’s show the Planning Inspector that the Council and the developers they can no longer assume they can build whatever they like on our estate without first listening to us, the community of St Helier.

You can drop in at the Civic Centre for the hearing for as long as you like to show your support during the day.

Can you prove the strength of feeling in St Helier by making a visit to the hearing on Wednesday 1st August?

If you wish to speak you must arrive in the morning to register, before the hearing starts.


A long hard Campaign

The St Helier community has been fighting to save its community asset The Morden Tavern from this threat for two years. The Estate has become famous across South London for its battle against this project and the level of community support it has enjoyed.

The council and the developer never expected this to happen, they underestimated the commitment and resolve of the St Helier community.

This will be the best chance we have to forever protect this site from future development if the inspector decides to reject the planning application by Reef Estates. The rejection would protect the garden from being built on and make the site very unattractive to any other developers making any alterations difficult.


What is a Public Hearing?

Simply put the independent planning inspector who is appointed by the Department of Communities and Local Government will sit and listen to various presentations from all sides in the case.

There are time limits for each group, some for example the developer get longer and ‘third’ parties like the Campaign Group will get five minutes.

However the inspector has to also read any written submissions. The Campaign group along with The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) have submitted planning arguments to reject the application as well as secure a decision to protect the site from future development threats.

The inspector will be looking to see the strength of public support on this case.
This is why we are asking for people to find some time to either spend the day or make a visit to the hearing.

When will we get a decision?

It usually takes around seven to eight weeks after the hearing for the inspector to publish their report and give a final judgement on an application. However as it is the holiday season this may delay the outcome. We will ensure that we publish the findings in a Newsletter as soon after this time as possible as well as via our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MordenTavern and Twitter account: http://twitter.com/SaveMordenTav

Cooperative Pub Plans

Thank you to all those who have expressed an interest in investing in a community cooperative to buy and refurbish the Morden tavern before re-opening it as a new pub and community centreShares will be £250 each and groups can buy a single share between them. 

Until the planning application is killed off, plans remain on hold, but we are continuing to work on them behind the scenes. If you are interested in investing or just have ideas for the pub and community centre, let us know at the email address below or on our Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/MordenTavern

What happened to my objection letter?

1300 printed letters of objection were submitted by St Helier residents through the Campaign Group. We do not know how many additional objections were submitted online or independently.

Every submission strengthens the case for the inspector to reject this application. It also sends a strong message to Merton Council that the St Helier Community wants its asset returned.

The Campaign Committee are:
David Smith (Chair), Dale Ingram, Nick Brickell, Alfred Spiteri, Henry Basing, and Harry Macdonald.

tavern.development@virginmedia.com

THIS PROPERTY IS OWNED BY ALL OF US




Monday 9 July 2012

Dale Ingram's email to the Planning Inspectorate - 9/7/12


From: Dale Ingram
Sent: 09 July 2012 15:05
To: Alan Bailey Planning Inspectorate Morden Tavern


Alan Bailey, Case Officer
The Planning Inspectorate
Room 3/13
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
Bristol BS1 6PN



Planning Reference: APP/T5720/A/12/2172973
Morden Tavern 144 Central Road St. Helier Morden SM4 5RL
Local Authority: London Borough of Merton (LBM)
Planning application number 11/P0815

Dear Mr Bailey

Firstly, I should like to speak at the Appeal Hearing on August 1st.

Secondly, I should like to be kept informed in writing of any acitivity relating to the appeal, and any decision made.


Further to my representations previously made, all of which substantively remain, I would add only that there are several key planning appeal decisions, 2 of them very recently published and taking into account the newly adopted National Planning Policy Framework, which are very much germane to the Morden Tavern case.

These include:

1. Appeal A: APP/E3525/A/08/2088956   Planning Application   and   Appeal B: APP/E3525/E/08/2088996    LBC Application
Plumbers Arms, Wickham Street, Newmarket CB8 8PB          Dated 26th May 2009                Appeals Dismissed

 
2. Appeal A: APP/L5240/E/10/2136134   Planning Application   and   Appeal B: APP/L5240/A/10/2135399     LBC Application
Rose and Crown, 124 Church Street, Croydon CR0 1RF          Dated 29th December 2012        Appeals Dismissed
 
Grounds for dismissing the appeals included the loss of the public house use and the detrimental effect of both the loss of the public house use and the proposed scheme failing to preserve or enhance the affected heritage assets.
 

3. http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/ViewCase.asp?caseid=2167572&coid=2163460
The Unicorn, 15 High Street, Cherry Hinton Cambridge CB1 9HX               Dated: 19 June 2012              Appeal Dismissed

and

4. http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/ViewCase.asp?caseid=2168726&coid=2101906
Victoria Hotel, Church Road, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire FY8 3NE           Dated 20 June 2012               Appeal Dismissed


A. In the The Unicorn case, several key issues seem particularly relevant to the Morden Tavern appeal.

1. (Points 4, 5, 6, 10) The public house use appears to have been extinguished to enable the grant of planning consent. Email correspondence released under a FoI request reveals that the Morden Tavern was closed in August 2010 in order to facilitate the planning application. Closure of premises so that applicants can argue that the premises are no longer in the beneficial use protected by planning policy is becoming endemic. Please note the use by Merton Council of the expression 'Former Morden Tavern' in its reports to committee.

2. (Points 8, 9, 11) Marketing of the premises and its potential for playing its part as a local community facility. CAMRA has long highlighted the potential for premises, once released from the onerous burden of 'The Tie', to flourish as Free Houses. This is because they are able to operate a much sounder business model when the rents are calculated fairly and supplies of beer and other commodities acquired direct from breweries without the requirement to pay exorbitant 'tied' prices, especially for draught beer. The Morden Tavern was not marketed freely in the way required by Merton Council's LDF Policy L16, and so its potential to contribute effectively as a community asset (amenity) in its present public house use has not been tested.

3. (Point 12) The Morden Tavern is the last of three historic 'Refreshment Houses' specifically designed to serve the social and recreational needs of the St Helier Estate. Both of the other two have in recent times been demolshed and replaced with housing, admittedly in one case under extraordinary circumstances. There are few examples of alternate public house provision, and none within any reasonable* distance which provide equivalent provision, such as the need for function rooms and external space for recreation and relaxation.

* Reasonable: Southwark Council requires replacement facilities of equivalent function within 800 metres of the subject site. Merton's revised Public Houses Protection Policy, currently in consultation, will require the same.


B. In the Victoria Hotel case, the following points are germane:

1. (Points 2-7 incl)  Fylde Borough Council chose to refuse consent on the basis of the provisions in the newly-enacted Localism Act 2011 and Assets of Community Value Policy Statement DCLG 2011 which protect 'Assets of Community Value'. The level of local support for the Campaign to protect the Morden Tavern which, after lobbying, has enabled the Appeal to be determined under the Hearing Procedure (for which, many thanks) shows that it too is valued by residents. The 'Localism' point was made by the writer at the Planning Committee meeting considering the Morden Tavern application on January 12th.

2. Heritage. The Victoria Hotel, unlike the Morden Tavern, was not identified as having heritage value either by Fylde BC or by the appellants. The Morden Tavern was added to Merton's Local List in December 2010 in direct response to research provided to them by the author in the autumn of that year and made in response to the first planning application in 2010 which was withdrawn. In short, it is the only identified work in the South of England by Sir Harry Redfern FRIBA, whose work in designing local authority 'refreshment houses' for the Carlisle Experiment led directly to his knighthood. The significance of this heritage asset, both for its communcal value and its architectural merit is therefore beyond doubt. This factor was properly taken into account by the Planning Committee in January, which considered that the impact of the porposals on the Local List building and its designed and typical garden setting were unacceptable. The Appellants planning application was deficient in presenting the proper significance of the building and failed adequately to explain the impact of their proposals on that significance, most notably in the loss of the public house use (communal significance), alterations to the fabric (architectural significance) and to its setting.

3. (Points 63, 64, 68, 70, 71, 80, 82). Community Value: there can be no doubt that the Morden Tavern, like the Victoria Hotel, can and in some respects still does, have considerable value in this regard. It can, if properly addressed, make a positive contribution to a sustainable community, its sheer size offering a wide variety of potential co-existent uses, made the more viable by the loss of the other two traditional refreshment houses and the lack of suitable alternative provision within easy walking distance. Point 68 of this decision highlights the parallel nature of social deprivation both in the Central Ward of Lytham St Annes and St Helier Ward in Merton. In the latter instance, the considerable development at the Willows very near by in Central Road, exacerbates the loss of a social centre. Point 82 of this decision highlights a not-dissimilar alternative provision of social amenities and the content of this point pretty accurately reflects the position with regard to the Morden Tavern.

4. (Points 65, 66, 67). The Decision covers relevant provisions under the National Planning Policy Framework, which were rehearsed in the previous submission made to you on May 31st.

5. (Points 90- 104, 105) Viability. As above (The Unicorn case) the potential for public houses to be run profitably when released from the economic hadcuffs of 'the tie' has many examples. Nearby in Carshalton, The Hope (a notable CAMRA recognised real ale venue) was acquired as a going concern by a group of local residents and is something of a 'poster child' for the way in which community pubs can be turned around when converted to 'Free Houses'. That the Morden Tavern was not marketed widely as a pub for 'a period of usually not less than two years' [Merton Council's own Policy L16] is clear from the application, and no evidence that it was so marketed was forthcoming from any party. No reasons were given for justifying a departure from the policy, except, it would seem, Merton Council's own potential windfall from the sale of the site for development purposes. The premises have been allowed, through a process of deliberate neglect, to fall into a considerable state of disrepair, contrary to Para 130 of the Framework. While it is understood that if the development had been consented and works commenced on site in a timely way, the damage from environmental factors (weathering) and from deliberate acts of vandalism (theft of lead from the roof) could have been addressed at an early stage,  given the considerable local opposition to the proposals, it should have been expected that the developer would have addressed these concerns in a more timely fashion. Repair caused by this neglect will constitute a considerable cost burden on any putative new owner. It cannot be overlooked that it its possible that this was a deliberate policy on the part of the leaseholder, the Appellants, Reef Estates. Moreover, the lease under which Reef Estates hold the premises require regular and stipulated forms of maintenance. It would appear that the freeholder, Merton Council, have not enforced the provisions of the lease in this regard, even though they have recognised the site as of heritage value. (Point 105) There is an alternative proposal to create a commercially viable vehicle to preserve the Morden Tavern in its public house use, and in so doing, protect the heritage asset in the longer term as a viable community asset.

6. (Points 107-127) Community take over. In common with the Hope at Carshalton, there are a number of other communities which have taken the bold step of acquiring leaseholds of threatened pubs and running them 'by the community, for the community'. Five key examples in Cumbria, Gwynedd, Salford and Yorkshire are given here:http://www.plunkett.co.uk/whatwedo/currentcooperativepubs.cfm. The Morden Tavern is no exception. The Campaign for Morden Tavern reformulated itself in January after the planning application failed into 'The St Helier Pub Group' whose stated intention is to firstly acquire the leasehold, and then in time the freehold. Plans are progressing with a business plan and many offers of financial support, most notably from shareholders in the nearby Hope at Carshalton. It is noted in the decision for the Victoria that government has created several routes to the successful re-formulation of community pubs, and these are backed up by initiatives such at the Prince of Wales' sponsored Pub Is the Hub, and the Plunkett Foundation for cooperative ventures. Like the Victoria, however, approaches to the present leaseholder by the SHPG and other potential buyers who have expressed an interest in a brew-pub and employee cooperative operations have met with no reply.

7. Housing provision. The appellants have sought to justify their proposal on the basis of an unmet demand for residential accommodation. The development of the Willows site nearby in Central Road in 2009-11 caused local furore and continues to rankle with residents, who do not wish to sacrifice a site which is both historically and culturally important to them, but which will also increase problems with parking, servicing for the retail units and place additional pressure on infrastructure, such as drains, whose 1930s origins are unable already to deal with heavy rainfall and the additional burdens placedon them by this development. The principle of a presumption in favour of sustainable development in now reasonably well accepted, if not entirely understood even by built environment professionals, and will not be until Guidance on the application of the Framework is released by DCLG. Sustainable development requires that all aspects of a sites suitabity for the mooted proposal be taken into account and a proper balance taken of the competing elements. The application does not, in the writer's view, constitute sustainable development.

The issue at stake here is, to all intents and purposes, practically identical to that in Lytham St Annes at the Victoria:

1. It is a valued and wanted community facility in an area of identified social deprivation whose retention is and should be defended under the Framework and the Localism Act.
2. It is a heritage asset of local, and arguably, in this instance, national significance, greatly appreciated by local residents, many of whom have lived in the area for many years and who have been the inspiration for the Campaign.
3. The proposals fail to preserve or enhance the heritage asset, and fatally and permanently compromise the heritage asset's cultural, communal, aethestic and architectural values and significance, and its setting.
4. In the view of the writer, there is no overwhelming justification for the replacement of a public house and compromise of the fabric and setting of a heritage asset with housing and retail uses which ought to lead to the grant of consent under a balancing argument.

Please dismiss the appeal.


Yours sincerely


Dale Ingram MSc
Director
ConservationWorks UK Ltd.

CAMRA Positions:

Pubs Preservation Officer SW London Branch
London Pubs Group
National Planning Advisory Group
National Pubs Heritage Group

 

Sunday 8 July 2012

4 days left to make comments

Four Days Remaining to Make Submit Comments!

The deadline is 10 July to submit comments in support of the Tavern remaining a pub and object to its conversion into even more flats. Pubs make communities; bland off-the-shelf developments of apartments kill them.

Morden and St. Helier residents can only demonstrate that we would rather have a pub by making comments and telling the Planning Inspectorate that residents want a genuinely local pub.