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.

Notwithstanding that restrictions are continuing to bite as Covid-19 continues to spread and we find ourselves unable to mix with friends and family as we would like, the Management Team wish every HJCP member a very Happy New Year.

The arrival of the vaccines gives us all fresh hope that, as the warmer weather approaches, we may all get our normal lives back on track. Time to be strong, to stay healthy and safe. So, having batted 2020 into the past, here’s to a better and brighter 2021!

Have you visited our Facebook Page recently? The ‘Henry Jenkins Community pub’?

On the 9th December 2020 we launched (Trumpets and Drum Roll!…) the Henry Jenkins Q & A Sessions.

Initially the Q’s and the A’s will be presented by the HJCP but it is hoped that residents and visitors will feel free to start contributing questions of their own. Every question submitted will be answered in full by the Management Team.

We want our entire campaign to be as transparent as possible and feel this will be a much more efficient and user-friendly way of providing information about our aims and ambitions than any amount of leaflets and posters. It will also be a vehicle to counteract the misinformation and speculation which is ‘out there’ when people are not in full possession of the true facts.

Please do submit questions and ideas of your own.

On the 19th October the HJCP Ltd achieved their Community Shares sales total of £230,000!

Well done to all our friends and supporters! perhaps the launch of our Associate Membership scheme on the 8th October gave us that little additional impetus to push us over the line?

The latest total, as on the 1st December 2020 is now a glorious £236,500.00!

The Share Issue will remain open and we will continue to sell Community Shares and recruit new members. We may have covered the cost of our intended purchase of the Henry Jenkins but any additional funds will go towards the repair and refurbishment of the property, thus reducing the amounts we require from grants and loans.

One more time – Well Done! (But let’s keep on pushin’!)

Peta (pronounced as in Peter) Hudson has started corresponding with the HJCP, from where she lives in Ireland.. Her dad, Gary Hudson, bought the Henry Jenkins from the Kitching family in 1971 and fully refurbished and modernised the pub, installing the restaurant and kitchen and relocating the toilets, turning it into the pub we all knew until it sadly closed. Peta has some fantastic childhood memories of her time in Kirkby Malzeard and obviously has a wonderful memory for people and places. She has sent a series of old photos of the pub as it was then and how her lovely dad’s labours brought it into the modern world.   If anyone remembers Peta and would like to re-establish contact or would just like to have copies of the old photos please contact HJCPLtd@gmail.com.

The appeal against refusal of Planning Permission on the Eastern Annexe was held ‘virtually’ on Microsoft Teams this Tues & Wed 10^th & 11^th November.  An Inspector from the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol presided over those present: David Fielder & Justin Claybourne (who spoke only to confirm his presence) & their agent Jennifer Hubbard; HBC Planning Officer Gerard Walsh; and for the HJCP Ltd – Dave Robinson, Richard Sadler, Sarah Haslam. Observing: Mark Owen HJCP and Pippa Manson – Chair, KMPC .

The meeting was controlled very strictly and every aspect of the situation regarding the Eastern-Annexe was examined in detail. Everyone was able to express their view and outline their position.

Basically, the view of the owners was that separating 2 halves of the site but offering the sale of the western half as a pub, was enough to satisfy the CFX & HPPF planning policies that protect community facilities. Obviously, the HJCP objected that removing one half of the building and two thirds of the car park would destroy the social asset viability of the whole site. The view of HBC, represented by planner Gerard Walsh, was broadly aligned with the HJCP position.

The HJCP Business Plan was then forensically unpicked line-by-line by the owners trying to prove it was unviable and unworkable. These arguments were stoutly rebutted by a belief in its robustness, the audit and standard mark it had been given; and the expert contribution of advice and consultation to its creation by 2 operating local pubs and the approval gained from 3 other community pubs.

Finally, as expected, Jennifer Hubbard lodged a claim for costs against HBC for the refusal of the permission which thus forced the appeal. A long list of reasons was presented claiming numerous breaches and misinterpretations of the planning policies by HBC. Each point was defended by the Planning Officer. A decision on this claim will be made later on.

The Appeal was concluded after a day and a half of computer debate and the decision by the Planning Inspector will be issued in the coming weeks.

The HJCP are cautiously optimistic as we feel that our still-expanding membership; our growing community share total; the vigorous and passionate defence of our position and our Business Plan; the protection of the new HBC planning policies within the Local Plan (particularly HP8);  and our strong belief that the residents of our parish have a right to have this community asset returned into proper use, will win the day.

We will announce, and release for examination, the full Planning Inspectors decision whichever way it goes, as soon as we receive it.

A successful AGM was conducted by email commencing at the end of October. Company reports were circulated to the entire membership. Many thanks to those members who also included comments and opinions with their returned voting forms.

A vote of the membership returned a new management committee, who subsequently convened a company meeting to establish roles and responsibilities. These are:

Dave Robinson – Chair

Sarah Haslam – Secretary

Janet Robinson – Acting Treasurer

Richard Sadler – PR

Mark Owen – Legal Advisor

Will Parry – Property Advisor

The management committee were also please to confirm the reappointment of Alison Holgate who will continue in her role as a non-voting Arts Consultant. (Hooray!)

Up-to-date information about any aspect of the HJCP Ltd and the ‘Save the Henry Jenkins’ campaign can be obtained by contact with any member of the management team at at HJCPLtd@gmail.com

Justin Claybourn’s Appeal against the refusal of his planning application for the so-called ‘Eastern-Annexe’ of the Henry Jenkins has now been set for the 10^th & 11^th November.

The event will take place ‘virtually’ with contributers taking part on Microsoft Teams in a meeting run by Anton Godfrey from the Planning Inspectorate.

All the necessary HJCP documentation was provided prior to the original event date of 26^th March and no other submissions have been invited. But we will be ‘participants’, ready to respond when requested by the presiding inspector.

If you would like more information on this Appeal and the procedure, please contact this office – HJCPLtd@gmail.com. We will provide updates during and after the Hearing. The Inspectors decision may well take several months.