No to pub plan

The Swan in Ascott-under-Wychwood has been shut since June 2010 and owner Richard Lait has been trying to sell it – as villagers say they are desperate to see it open again.

Now Mr Lait has applied to West Oxfordshire District Council to demolish an outbuilding that housed the pub’s toilets and offices so a new house can be built over part of the beer garden and car park.

Paperwork accompanying the application claims cutting down the land on the site would in turn reduce the asking price for the pub and mean it was more likely to find a new buyer.

But West Oxfordshire District Council planning officers said there was no evidence the application will improve the pub’s viability and have recommend refusal.

Ascott-under-Wychwood Parish Council chairman Rob Morgan said: “The Swan is the only public house in the village and we wish to see it reopen.

“If you build a property adjacent to it on its land it reduces the viability of the public house.

“It prejudices the car parking.”

Mr Morgan said the village had no public transport in the evenings so villagers had to drive to the pub and therefore needed parking.

A council survey sent to every home in the village in December 2010 showed that – of the 56 per cent that replied – 99 per cent wanted the pub retained.

Twenty six residents also wrote to the district council expressing concerns about the application’s impact on the viability of the pub.

They said reducing in pub’s garden and car park would all affect its ability to be profitable in the future.

Tony Goulding, Oxford Campaign for Real Ale branch chairman, said: “We would want the pub to reopen and go to someone who will make a go of it. As a last resort, if building on the site is necessary, we would need concrete reassurances that the future of the pub will be safe.”

Members of the uplands area planning subcommittee will decide on the application at the council’s Woodgreen offices from 2pm on Monday.