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The owner of the Henry Jenkins has put in yet another application to try to convert the Henry Jenkins into houses.

The village centre Henry Jenkins has stood the test of time for hundreds of years and the local community are supporting its purchase as a community owned Pub and Hub that would be able to be of huge benefit to the Kirkby Malzeard and surround communities for hundreds of years to come.

To object to this latest planning application, you will first need to be registered with Harrogate Borough Council.
(You just need to enter your address and email so they can confirm you live in the HBC area.)
Click here to register your name

Once you have registered, then you can go to the planning application and register your objections

Click here to go to the planning application and leave your comments

(Click on the “Comments” tab, and then “Make a Comment”)

Below are some points you may wish to consider when making your comments.

• The Henry Jenkins has been at the heart of the village for more than 250 years and is an intrinsic part of Kirkby’s history, character and culture. If we allow it to go, it will be gone forever
  
  
• HJCP has already raised more than £230K in community share purchases. With HBC’s support we –​ like another community pub project in a very similar situation to ours –​ could qualify for another £250k​​ from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund.
  
  
• The case for having a community-owned pub and restaurant in Kirkby has become even stronger because of greater appreciation of the importance of community facilities in the wake of the pandemic. Having a nice place where villagers can meet up, eat, drink and socialise promotes friendship, new clubs and societies and helps combat social isolation.
  
  
• The village is expanding fast, more people are working from home and the need for a wider range of facilities is greater than ever.
  
  
• The Queens is an important part of our community, but a second pub would offer residents choice, draw in visitors, participate in events that benefit all local businesses and share the cost and organisation of village celebrations.​ There is room for two different pubs, and a community pub would benefit all other hospitality venues because the community pub’s whole aim is to benefit the community.​
  
  
• Community pubs are owned by local people, run for local people and all profits come back to the community. More and more of them are being set up and not a single one has failed.
  
  
• Having a second pub and restaurant would create jobs and help local businesses – including the Queens – by attracting more visitors to the village. There is increasing demand for more facilities from walkers and cyclists.
  
  
• A community pub could also provide other facilities such as a coffee shop and bakery linked to the village shop, a micro-library, a conference room with LCD display screens for local business people.
  
  
• The only reason the pub has stood empty for so long is the owner’s intransigence. He’s failed to properly market it as a pub, allowed it to fall into disrepair and refused repeated offers by prospective purchasers wanting to bring it back as a pub. He’s attempted to further undermine the pub’s viability by selling off part of the pub to his business associate.
  
  
• This stalemate could be resolved by HBC through the issue of a compulsory purchase order for the entire pub. Councils have powers to do this where community facilities are under threat.
  
  
• It is HBC policy (Policy HP8) to protect pubs in rural areas unless there is no reasonable prospect of them continuing. In this case there is every prospect of it continuing. We have nearly 200 members who’ve promised to buy shares – we just need HBC’s help to stop a private developer depriving of us of something that would benefit the whole village and bring people closer together.

With your help we can keep the dream alive of a revitalised Henry Jenkins owned by the community for the community!

Thank you for your continued support.

You may not have heard this tragic news. Early Wednesday evening, Lucie, daughter of Rocky and Sue from the Queens Head pub, was involved in a terrible accident on the Grantley Road. After a car breakdown, she was struck by tractor and trailer and suffered life-threatening injuries. To save her life, which still hangs in the balance, the surgeons have been forced to amputate her right leg which, with other injuries, will consign her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Lucie is a lovely, sweet, friendly, talented young lady and this is an awful, tragic incident which is almost too dreadful to even think about. A fund-raising page has been launched to assist the family in this hour of need.

Clicking on the link will take you directly to the Go Fund Me site – please donate!

 Fund for Lucie!

 

 

The Decision of the Planning Inspector on Justin Claybourne’s Appeal has now been uploaded to this website for your information.

Please navigate to ‘Information’ and then ‘Key Documents’, scroll down past the Membership Application Forms to the end and then click on the link.  The document will open in a new window.

The Management Team are happy to receive your views and opinions on the ruling and will respond to every submission.

On a more sombre note, the Planning Inspector decided to ‘allow’ Justin Claybourne’s appeal against the refusal of his planning application on the ‘eastern- annexe’ of the Henry Jenkins. This means that he has now been given permission to develop that part of the site for residential use.

This is an unexpected turn of events, as we felt that a very strong case was presented by the HJCP which also seemed to have the support of the HBC Planning Officer who was in attendance. This decision is rendered even more inexplicable by contradictory statements by the Inspector within her report but there is no appeal and we must accept her conclusions and move on. A copy of her decision will be uploaded to this website.

Obviously, this is a severe blow to all of our aspirations to preserve a long-valued, atmospheric and traditional social centre within our community. David Fielder has reaffirmed that the ‘western’ section of the Henry Jenkins is still available for sale as a community asset and it appears that the Inspector regarded this a sufficient safeguard for Parish facilities. Of course, this remains an open question.

A meeting of the Management Team has been arranged. Shortly after this, full facts and all details will be provided in the January eNewsletter, so our membership can decide on the future direction of our campaign. This must be done by the end of January. Time stands still for no man, even if we are in a lockdown!

Please feel free to contact HJCPLtd@gmail.com directly, with any specific questions about the current situation.