Help Us Save The Villagers (Volunteer) Pub/Cafe

We would like to thank everyone for your support to save The Villagers as a new community licensed cafe. The funding so far has reached nearly £5,000 including Gift Aid , which has assisted us in financing the very successful Judicial Review process.

It has now been accepted that Waverley Borough Council committed a legal error when granting the planning permission and so will not oppose the application for a Judicial Review. We have now drawn up a Consent Order, which is a precursor for the judge to grant the quashing of the recent grant of planning permission (WA/2024/00149). Thereafter, the issue will be sent back to the Council Planning Department to reconsider their original decision to allow change of use.

Once the judge grants this formal Order, the planning application can be brought before to the Planning Committee again. We will re-state our objections on a number of additional planning grounds, in particular non-compliance of Condition 2 of the original planning permission (WA/2017/1853), which is subject to a Breach of Condition Notice.

The BVS have been encouraged by the level of support particularly to those who have made personal pledges outside of the Crowd Funding initiative. However, we still need to raise additional funding for professional fees to instigate a Compulsory Purchase Order. We anticipate claiming the balance of our initial fees from Waverley Borough Council and this will be included in the Consent Order.

We now have a real prospect to “save our pub/cafe” (which is still listed as an ACV) and remain hopeful that one day The Villagers will re-open for local residents and the wider neighbourhood to enjoy in the future.

More information can be obtained from our village website at https://www.blackheathsurrey.co.uk/village-pub