Plans to turn village pub near Banbury into a house submitted to council

The owners of the North Arms pub building in Wroxton have submitted plans to Cherwell District Council for a change of use of the property from public house to a single residential dwelling.

The North Arms is one of two vacant pubs in Wroxton.

The building closed as a pub and restaurant in 2013. It was made an asset of community value and was the subject of a failed community buyout in 2014. Pledges to buy shares were offered at £500 and the Save Our North Arms Pub campaign received huge support from villagers and former US students of Wroxton College (Fairleigh Dickinson University).

Wroxton College (Fairleigh Dickinson University) announced in 2016 it had bought the pub, and had originally planned to restore and reopen it to the public. But in spring of 2021 the college put the former pub building on the market.

The pub's current owners bought the building in August 2021.

The planning application claims the pub building was immediately placed on the market with a national pub agents to ascertain if there were any willing parties to take the building on to operate it again as a pub.

At the time of this application the pub building remains on the market and available, but the owners say there have been no potential buyers interested to keep the building as a pub.

The owners of the property listed several other pub-like facilities nearby in support of their request.

The application says the nearest pub is the White Horse, which is currently also closed. Although, the application claims White Horse pub is 'believed to be re-opening.' No other details were revealed of the possible re-opening of the White Horse pub in Wroxton.

The planning application also listed the Wroxton House Hotel as being nearby, and listed four other pubs within two miles of Wroxton.

The owners of the property said this in their change of use request: "It is unfortunate that there have been no willing parties to take over the North Arms and reopen it as a pub. However, it has now been closed for eight years and despite the best intentions of the last owners they had to sell it as re-opening was not viable.

"The development will not result in harm to the overall character of the area, as there will be no change to the appearance of the building or the layout and landscaping of the site.

"The existing access will be utilised and a change to a single home would result in less potential traffic and thus improved highway safety.

"The property is grade II listed and is falling in to disrepair. It is essential that works are undertaken soon to ensure the long term future of is beautiful building and the only realistic

way to do this is via change of use to a home."

Anyone who would like to submit a comment about the proposed change of use for the pub property can do so on the Cherwell District Council website here: https://planningregister.cherwell.gov.uk/Planning/Display/22/00256/F

Village residents have launched an 'urgent appeal for action' as a result of the change of use planning application for the North Arms pub building.

A post made today on the Wroxton village Facebook page said: "So far there have been 5 replies to the council.

"If you do not want to lose The North Arms and believe it should be our village pub, then you need to object to the planning request using the link in the post below. Once The North Arms is gone from the village - it is gone forever.

"A village needs a pub! #savethenortharmspub"

The call to action post on the Wroxton village Facebook page explains in detail how people can submit a comment or objection to the application.

You can view the Facebook post here: https://www.facebook.com/wroxtonvillage/posts/3107682886145850