Wollerton villagers lose fight to save their only pub
A?Government planning inspector has stepped in and approved controversial plans to turn the only pub in a Shropshire village into a house – devastating villagers.
They say transforming the Squirrel Inn at Wollerton, near Market Drayton, into a three-bedroomed property will deprive the village of its pub.
The plans were thrown out by Shropshire Council last year.
Although the pub has been closed since 2010, more than 150 local people signed a petition against the conversion, saying the inn had provided jobs and was used by people in nearby villages.
Hodnet Parish Council also objected because it said the property could still be used as a source of local employment.
Members of Shropshire Council's north planning committee, which turned down the application, felt it could still be used as a pub.
After their plans were turned down applicants Sarah Mazloom and Claire Howell lodged an appeal.
The inspector has now approved the scheme.
The inspector's decision will be announced to Shropshire Council's north planning committee at its meeting in Oswestry on Tuesday.
Karen Calder, Shropshire Council member for Hodnet and a Wollerton resident, said: "We are absolutely devastated. We have lost our village pub forever."
But the applicants said there is no demand to re-use the premises as a pub. Miss Mazloom said: "We are obviously delighted."
Inspector Clive Sproule said: "Thorough marketing failed to find a commercial investor for the site, which along with the other evidence in this case, has demonstrated with sufficient clarity that the Squirrel Inn was not viable in the longer term."
