Chaddleworth pub plan withdrawn

The plans, submitted by John Castle of Ilexanna Ltd, sought to “renovate, refurbish and rejuvenate” the Ibex Inn by creating an enlarged kitchen and two bedrooms with en-suite facilities for Bed and Breakfast use.
The application also included a proposal to build two semi-detatched cottages, a detached house and a holiday cottage; and convert a disused outbuilding opposite the pub into a studio apartment.
Villagers and the parish council gave a mixed reaction to the application, with some commenting that while they wanted their once thriving village pub back, the proposals were an overdevelopment of the site and offered too few parking spaces.
Mr Castle said: “Following discussions with the parish council and West Berkshire Council, it was decided that withdrawing the application was the best thing to do so that a revised application could be submitted in the near future.
“The revised application will still included the pub refurbishment, the bed & breakfast facilities and new market housing. However, unfortunately the holiday let cottage will need to be dropped to increase the number of available car parking spaces.
“It is hoped that the next scheme will be more acceptable to the village and to the requirements of the West Berkshire planning department.
“We are determined to return the pub to a great place to eat, drink and socialise but really must ask local people to support the next application to ensure that this happens.”
Chaddleworth does not have a settlement boundary and lies within an area of outstanding natural beauty and the application was not considered to conform with West Berkshire Council planning policy.
Parish council chairman, Grahame Murphy, said: “There’s going to be a need for some redevelopment to pay for the refurbishment of the pub.
“I’m very hopeful but can see that other places have had a lot of money poured into them but have not seen the green shoots of recovery. I’m hopeful but we’ll have to wait and see.
“We would have liked to have had a meeting with [Mr Castle] to go through the pub as we have lived here a long time and could tell him what would work.”