Pub escapes conversion into house following sale );
ONE of Whitchurch’s two pubs has been saved from conversion into a house.
The Greyhound in High Street has been sold to Oak Taverns, a family-run operator based in Thame which owns 13 other premises, including the Red Lion at Chinnor and four breweries.
Punch Taverns put the pub on the market about six months ago, saying it was no longer viable.
The asking price was dropped from £675,000 plus VAT to £495,000 shortly before the sale was completed.
Several parties expressed an interest but Oak was the only one not seeking a residential conversion.
Developer turns tables on councillor using his book );
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A PARISH councillor trying to stop a retirement village from being built in Sonning Common has had his own book used as evidence against him by the developer.
Tom Fort, a former BBC journalist and an author, spoke against Inspired Villages’ proposal for 133 flats in Blounts Court Road at a planning inquiry. The hearing comes after the company appealed against a decision by South Oxfordshire District Council to refuse planning permission.
Councillor Fort told the inquiry that he opposes the development due to the impact it would have on the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as well as the village’s neighbourhood plan.
FORMER Henley mayor Stefan Gawrysiak says he will continue to do his best for the town after being re-elected to Oxfordshire County Council. The Henley Resident.
SOME readers may today be getting a sinking sense of deja vu. Just two years ago in May 2019, people across South Oxfordshire were celebrating after they ousted the ruling Conservatives from their district council and installed. a rainbow coalition of Liberal Democrat and Green councillors. The left wing parties had rocketed to power largely on the platform that they were going to challenge massive housebuilding proposals for the district and tear up the Tories’ Local Plan. What was it that Robert Burns said about ‘the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men.?’ Within a year, the Government’s Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told the council that if they even tried to overturn the Local Plan that he would block them from doing so and get the then-Tory led county council to take over their duties.
A PARISH council has objected to plans for a four-bedroom house after it claims developers felled ‘mature trees’ without a licence. Plans for a four-bedroom ‘family’ home, on the triangular portion of land south of the CALA Homes Carmel Meadows development in Crowmarsh Gifford near Wallingford, is currently in the consultation period. On the South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) planning applications website it reveals plans submitted by Fair Life Development Ltd to build an additional family home; however, it has objections and concerns from both Crowmarsh Parish Council and the County Archaeological Services. The target decision date for the planning application is June 2, but trees in the area neighbouring the Carmel Meadows development have already been felled.