Asset of Community Value

Report No: G69/17 Eden District Council Executive 4 July 2017 Crown & Mitre Hotel - Asset of Community Value Portfolio: Resources Report from: Deputy Chief Executive Wards: Askham OPEN PUBLIC ITEM 1 Purpose 1.1 To consider the nomination of the Crown & Mitre Hotel, Bampton Grange, Cumbria as an Asset of Community Value under the Localism Act 2011. 2 Recommendation It is recommended that the application be accepted on the basis the Crown & Mitre Hotel, Bampton Grange, Cumbria is land of community value as it does further the social wellbeing or interests of the local community having regard to the rural location and its location upon the route of the Coast to Coast Walk. 3 Report Details 3.1 A Nomination has been received from Campaign for Real Ale (‘CAMRA’) Westmorland Branch, for the Crown & Mitre Hotel, Bampton Grange, Cumbria to be listed as being of community value. The application was dated 27 February 2017 and was received by the Council on or about 28 February 2017. A copy of the nomination form is attached at Appendix A of this report. 3.2 The nominated land is the Crown & Mitre Hotel at Bampton Grange, Cumbria and is described as a public house. A copy of the plan to which the nomination refers is attached at Appendix B. 3.3 The legal estate of the freehold of the property is owned by Jane Margaret Storey. 3.4 Under the Localism Act 2011 [“the Act”] and The Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012 made thereunder the Council has a duty to maintain a list of land in its area which is of community value, and also a list of unsuccessful nominations of such land. There is a summary of the statutory provisions setting out the procedure and criteria for the nomination of land appended to this report as Appendix C. 3.5 The Act goes further to state that a nomination must include certain information in order to be considered by the local authority. The nomination must include a description of the land, names of occupiers and owners of the land, the nominator’s reasons for thinking that the land is of community value and evidence that the nominator is eligible to make a nomination as set out in Regulation 6. 3.6 The nomination of land as an asset of community value can be made by numerous different parties, as set out in section 89 of the Act. In this case it has been made by the Westmorland Branch of CAMRA under s89 (2)(b)(iii). 3.7 The applicant includes with their nomination a letter of support from their national body, a copy of CAMRA’s Articles of Association. This Council has previously accepted at least one similar nomination relating to other land in the district for another branch of CAMRA. The application therefore should be viewed as valid for the purposes of this nomination and thus the Council must consider the application. 3.8 Land which is of ‘community value’ is defined in section 88 of the Act. Briefly, its principal use must, in the Council’s opinion, ‘further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community’ now and ‘it must be realistic to think’ that such a use ‘can continue’ in the future. 3.9 Under the Act ‘Social interests’ can include cultural interests, recreational interests or sporting interests. 3.10 At Section 3 (and the annex it refers to) of their nomination CAMRA sets out the reasons why they believe that the nominated land should be viewed as being of community value. The reasons include a number of facilities provided to customers that are commonly put forward to support listing of public houses as Assets of Community Value. In this case the nomination includes description of activities of hosting family gatherings, a such as post wedding and post funeral occasions, That the pub is used by a number of named local community groups, that persons participating in nearby sporting events use this public house, that persons walking the Coast to Coast Walk use the public house for refreshments, meals and for accommodation and this public house also caters for visitors staying at other accommodation locally. The Crown & Mitre Hotel promotes such visitors as well as making the claim that theirs is the only restaurant with five miles (although it appears they may not be accurate in this claim as the Haweswater Hotel according to google maps is only 3.9 miles away). 3.11 Public houses are by their nature venues for social interaction and as such frequently become hubs for pub games, sports teams, quiz competitions, music and televised sports events. Recent research published by Professor Ignazio Cabras of Northumbria University found that public houses had a positive, statistically significant impact on social engagement and involvement among residents and that parishes with a public house had more community events. 3.12 Eden District Council currently has thirteen assets listed on its register of which seven are public houses. Six of those are public houses in communities where that is the only public house within that community and the seventh is one of only two in its community. In the case of the Crown & Mitre Hotel the application states that there is only one public house within the parish. 3.13 If the nomination is valid then the local authority must accept the nomination provided that the nominated land is in the local authorities’ area and is of community value. 3.14 The local authority has in exercise of its duty notified the owners, occupiers and the local Parish Council that a nomination has been received. 3.15 There has been a letter of objection submitted on behalf of the land owner, a copy of which, including the accompanying Sales Particulars referred to, is attached at Appendix D. The letter refers to the background to the making of the legislation. That context is not disputed but nevertheless the application is valid in accordance with the Act and must be considered. It is accepted that some of the activities are able to occur at the discretion of the owner and licensee but nevertheless the owner is acknowledging they occur. If they occur it does not matter who instigates the activities. They may legitimately contribute to the evidence that the social wellbeing and interests of the community are furthered by the Crown & Mitre Hotel. There is a discrepancy in whether or not (and the extent if so) the nearby (half a mile) Mardale Inn is still open to the public. However, in part the owner’s own evidence implies the Mardale Inn it is at most only limited refreshment provisions as it is the owner’s Sales Particulars that assert theirs is the only restaurant within 5 miles. 3.16 The evidence does reflect the land fulfils the statutory criteria. It is considered that the Crown & Mitre Hotel does ‘further the social wellbeing or interests of the local community. Members are recommended to accept the Crown & Mitre Hotel as an Asset of Community Value. 4 Policy Framework 4.1 The Council has four corporate priorities which are: Decent Homes for All Strong Economy, Rich Environment Thriving Communities Quality Council 4.2 This report meets Quality Council corporate priority 4.3 This report addresses Strategic Action QC5b in the Council Plan 5 Consultation 5.1 Consultation has been conducted in accordance with the statutory requirements of the Localism Act 2011 with the Parish Council and the land owner. No response has been made by the Parish Council. The Owner’s representations are described at paragraph 3.15. 6 Implications 6.1 Financial and Resources 6.1.1 Any decision to reduce or increase resources or alternatively increase income must be made within the context of the Council’s stated priorities, as set out in its Council Plan 2015-19 as agreed at Council on 17 September 2015. 6.1.2 There are no proposals in this report that would reduce or increase resources 6.2 Legal 6.2.1 The legislation provides an appeal mechanism for owners whose land is listed to a First Tier Tribunal, but contains no separate provision for disappointed applicants or nominating groups. However the owner could seek permission for a judicial review by the High Court of the Council’s decision on various grounds, such as illegality, irrationality or procedural impropriety. 6.2.2 To obtain a judicial review of the Council’s decision would require certain preliminary criteria to be satisfied, such as the applicant having the appropriate standing, and applying within the time limits. In the event of any challenge, considerable financial costs would be incurred in defending the claim, although most of them could be reclaimed if the Council was successful and had not acted improperly, illegally or unreasonably. 6.2.3 The Regulations provide that an owner or former owner of listed land is entitled to compensation from the Council if, at a time when the person was the owner of the land and the land was listed, they did incur loss or expense which would likely not have been incurred if the land had not been listed. This situation may potentially arise if the nominated land were to be sold and the value of the land was affected by the moratorium period. It is the owner’s responsibility to provide evidence of the extra costs incurred and must be made within 13 weeks of the costs being incurred. 6.2.4 The DCLG Community Right to Bid Guidance (October 2012) stated that the government will meet the cost of compensation payments of over £20,000 in a financial year.

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