This post has been crafted from an e-mail from the Kingsgrove Community team, aka St. Modwen as master developer. If you want to receive these type of updates directly, as well as the Kingsgrove Newsletter, then please subscribe here.
Summary
The summary of the e-mail below is that there won’t be a pub in Kingsgrove and that McCarthy Stone will be putting forward plans to build 44 retirement living apartments on the site.
As you may know, ‘Lot 3’ or ‘the pub plot’, the space opposite the local square and next to the future neighbourhood centre, has been on the market since 2022. The initial outline planning proposal had allocated it as a space for a pub, but unfortunately after extensive marketing there has been no interest from the sector.
Therefore, to ensure the financial viability of the neighbourhood development as a whole, St. Modwen has investigated alternative uses for the space.
The candidate with the strongest commitment to the scheme was McCarthy Stone, and we are pleased that this highly reputable organisation has proposed a scheme for 44 retirement living apartments, with communal facilities for the McCarthy Stone residents, as well as extensive landscaping and associated car parking.
While we are disappointed not to have been able to bring forward a further community space for all residents, McCarthy Stone is known for building homes that allow older people to maintain their independence for longer.
The McCarthy Stone residents will support the local businesses coming to Kingsgrove, with the new neighbourhood centre directly next door and the community hub across the road. The centre will have a Co-op and other retail units, which could include a bistro or a bar, and the community hub will have a café, co-working spaces and room to hire for social events.
McCarthy Stone will be putting forward their planning application shortly and will also be holding a public consultation for anyone to view the plans and give their feedback. Details of this will be shared in due course.
If you have any questions, please email community@kingsgrovewantage.co.uk
St. Modwen Team (21 March 2024)
A lot of residents will be extremely frustrated by this decision, with some having been told, incorrectly, that the pub was going to be built when they were deciding to purchase / rent properties on Kingsgrove. I will do my best to ensure that all parties that are in the process of marketing properties on Kingsgrove, either to buy or to rent, will take immediate steps to remove all mentions of pubs / restaurants from their marketing material.
Technically, this change of use is just a proposal and the whole matter will need to go through the planning process. However, in reality, the council have been involved already and have been shown the evidence of the lengths that St. Modwen went in terms of marketing the plot. The plot was just that, a plot. It would have been up to the purchaser of the plot to build the pub and run it and that is not likely in an economic climate such as exists at the moment.
I had requested that residents be consulted / involved in any decisions as to what would take the place of the pub but that has obviously been ignored.