Co-op pub plan announced article - Wimbledon Guardian 21/2/12

newsletter February 2012

The St Helier Pub Group

Formerly The Campaign for the Morden Tavern February 2012

VICTORY!

As many of you may have read or heard the planning application made by a developer to build flats and shops on the Morden Tavern site was comprehensively rejected by Merton Council’s Planning Application Committee on 12.1.12 (see PAC report on the back). 

As a result and in recognition of the evolving nature of the campaign the committee formally known as the Cam-paign for Morden Tavern is to be renamed and reorganised as The St Helier Pub Group. The new group is expanding to take in various advisors and business professionals committed to purchasing the site of the Morden Tavern to be run as a cooperative venture (See ‘Own a Share of The Morden Tavern’ on the back).

As the CMT dissolves we would like to make a point of thanking those who publicly supported us over the last two years. Our heartfelt gratitude to local councillors Dennis Pearce and Rich-ard Hilton who were always on hand to support us with advice and time for the Campaign. The CMT roll of honour (alphabetical order);

Darren Johnson London Assembly Member
Diana Coman, Parliamentary Candidate
Geoff Strawbridge, CAMRA
Jenny Jones Mayoral Candidate
Ken Livingston Mayoral Candidate
Martin Butler, CAMRA
Michael Tuffrey London Assembly Member
Councillor Iain Dysart
Richard Tracey London Assembly Member
Robert Kyriakides & Clare Butler, Kyriakides and Braier, Solicitors
Ross Baker & Lynn Whitfield, Surrey Bat Group
Siobhan McDonagh MP
Stephen Hammond MP

Special gratitude to Dale Ingram, a planning consultant from CAMRA without whose help, time and energy the Campaign would have struggled to understand the complex planning ar-guments.

And most important of all - YOU the wonderful residents of St Helier who always wished us luck and were happy to sign petitions and letters of objection, well done to you, this is

YOUR VICTORY!

What Happened at the PAC?

" One of the most important aspects of England's planning system is that it is discretionary; that is, that it is up to the local planning authority to decide what is right for their local communities, regardless of na-tional or regional planning policy. One of the ways this is exercised is that planning committees' decisions are entirely independent of the planning department's officers recommendations.

Very occasionally it becomes obvious that whatever the local planners think is appropriate does not match local residents' own thoughts and feelings. In these instances, you may find that the planners recommend approval but the planning committee vote against the application. This happened in 2010 in Wandsworth on the Springfield Hospital redevelopment proposals, where there were 4000 written objections to a planning application to put hundreds of new houses on land near the hospital.

We saw another welcome example of this in Merton on January 12th when the Planning Applications Committee exercised both their discretion and their independence to refuse consent for the highly damaging scheme for the Morden Tavern after a hard fought battle by the Campaign for Morden Tavern which generated over a thousand written objections to the Reef Estates scheme.

Be sure to thank your local councillor next time you see him or her in the street or on your doorstep, especially if they are a member of the planning committee. Or go one step further and write to them by email or a note via the Civic Centre."

Dale Ingram, CAMRA

Own a share of the Morden Tavern…

The rejection of Reef Estate's planning application means that Reef now owns the leasehold but with little chance of acquiring the freehold or carrying out its development. The Campaign for Morden Tavern's success against the planning application has given birth to the 'St Helier Pub Group' (SHPG), a group of individuals looking to re-establish a pub / community centre on the site.

The St Helier Pub Group has approached Reef to buy the leasehold from them to set up a pub for the people of Morden owned by the people of Morden. As a co-operative free house, liberated from the control of the big pub companies, the Tavern has to be an attractive option to any landlord willing to run a refurbished, thriving community pub. The Planning Application Committee themselves said that they be-lieved the St Helier Community should be given the chance to own and run the site for themselves.

In the model of a number of other co-operative pubs that have rescued community pubs from closure, such as The Hope in Carshalton, we know that the pub will be popular with families by day and adults by night. Bustling with life, the refurbished pub will be able to serve improved food and drink compared to the tied pub. The refurbishment will also see that the large gardens are properly used.

With the support of the local community, the site is a commercially viable business and our business plan shows that with the correct investment, the pub's future will be assured. You can become a part-owner of the pub for as little as £250. Not only will investors get to help a part of the community survive, but they will of course share in the profits. We are looking for lots of investors as the greater the community's stake, the better run and more popular it will be.

If you are interested in hearing more about this op-portunity, please send an email to tavern.development@virginmedia.com and we will keep your details on file and send a copy of the busi-ness plan in due course. Serving the community will remain the focus of this new organisation and we have already received many ideas and offers of help for this new venture. But we can only do it if we get your support. Henry Basing.