Without a community bid, we can expect to spend the next decade fighting developers for planning permission, and the inevitable loss and subdivision of the spacious garden. Developers know community resistance eventually runs out.

There are countless examples of Public Houses being sold to owner/operators that then turn the property into residential property. This is usually considered an unlawful change of use, however securing enforcement action with such a contravention is easier said than done.

For local examples consider the residents of Reed (just off the A10, south of Royston, not far from Barley) who have found their now lost pub “The Cabinet” no longer open, and being used for private residential accommodation. A residents committee has spent thousands of pounds attempting to have the law upheld and their Public House used for its approved use.