Town council 'strongly opposed' to plan to convert former Biggleswade pub into house
Town councillors have voted to “strongly oppose” plans to convert a former historic public house in Biggleswade into a house.
An application has been submitted to turn The Red Lion in London Road into residential accommodation, with listed building consent for the Grade II premises.
It closed in 2019, having been sold to developers by Greene King, with subsequent proposals for a pub, restaurant and farm shop never materialising.
Town councillor Madeline Russell told a town council meeting: “Previous similar applications have been refused, including at appeal.
“These are retrospective,” she explained. “That’s acknowledged in the formal plans, which state work started as long ago as August 2022.
“The interior of the ground floor has been stripped out, including removing a wall. The external wall to the car park has been removed. The owners should have been asked to reinstate (these), but no enforcement has taken place.
“It’s been marketed as a public house for 27 months. A marketing report says the property ‘presents well’ with the upper parts turned into ‘good accommodation’, but it says nothing about the ground floor.
“The report says the site hasn’t sold because of the cost of fitting it out as a pub. There’s no mention of the Biggleswade Neighbourhood Plan in any of the documents.
“The site could have other commercial uses.I suggest we put in a strong objection because it doesn’t comply with neighbourhood plan policy.”
Town councillor Jo Jones said: “If this discussion was six months ago, I’d wholeheartedly support that.
“But sadly it’s been a derelict site throughout my time living here. As so much has been done and it’s been empty for years, I’m minded this time to support the conversion to housing.
“The other option is it’s left desolate. It’s getting to the point now where I’d rather have a functioning site and be able to help shape the access issues. I wouldn’t want access to be on to the side roads.
“I appreciate I’m falling into the trap, which has been potentially set for us. But I don’t understand what else will happen, if all that work has been done. It won’t be undone now.”
Town councillor Gary Barrett acknowledged: “It’s clear we have to stick to the planning rules and the Local Plan.
“However, if there’s an opportunity for it to be used in an appropriate way and as a result become a better building, that’s something we should consider. It’s obviously not commercially viable as a pub.”
Town councillor Duncan Strachan warned: “Nothing seems to have happened for a while, but it seems evident works were carried out without the appropriate permissions.
“Central Bedfordshire Council should have taken enforcement action because of the breaches. That’s the biggest problem here.
“It’s not so much people have done things they shouldn’t because that’s happened throughout planning history. CBC has failed as a planning authority. This has been prejudiced by the work carried out.”
Mayor Mark Foster, who chaired the meeting, added: “I can’t support a planning application which is essentially retrospective and is contrary to planning and heritage guidelines.”
Councillors agreed to lodge “a strong objection” to the plans and listed building consent, with one abstention. CBC will make the final decision on the project.