Decade-long battle to repurpose 'dreadful eyesore' community hall set to continue
A decade-long battle to repurpose a village hut described as a "dreadful eyesore" may soon be concluded, after fresh plans to find a new use for it were put forward.
JBC Property Developments has asked Warwick District Council to acknowledge the Meadows Hut in Stoneleigh is no longer designated for community use.
The application says the building has been vacant since 2013, and claims the past three owners have all tried to find a new use for it, as the timber structure is no longer suitable for public use.
"The conclusion of the structural report was that the building was incapable of being converted to present day standards for residential use and should therefore be demolished," the application said.
It added: "However, noting the clear structural issues with the integrity not only of the walls to the building but its slab as well any reasonable person would conclude from this report that the building has reached the end of its lifespan and whatever use is to resume on site requires a new building."
JBC is asking the council to acknowledge the property has a "nil use in planning terms" and says the best way forward is to knock the building down.
The application does not include details of how the site would be redeveloped.
It says the building was sold in 2010 by the Meadows Society - a charity set up to preserve the local area - and has not been used by the community since, having temporarily been used as an art studio until 2013.
"It is therefore evident that over a period of 13 years successive owners have made clear their intent to pursue options seeking residential use of the site and no clear intent to consider the building or site for alternative community uses," plans said.
"Any reasonable person faced with these facts would similarly reach the conclusion that there is no intent to bring the site back into a community use."
Previous plans to demolish the hut to make way for a house were refused and others withdrawn.
Submitted as supporting evidence, a comment from a previous application said: "With the hut nearly derelict and the site overgrown, the property is little more than a dreadful eyesore."
See the full application here.
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