Public Consultation re Change of use: The Old Beer Social Club with employment to Community Affordable Housing
Consultation period: 9 September 2019 to 27 September 2019
Public open day: Mariners' Hall, Beer - 10am to 2pm, Saturday 21 September 2019.

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Why are we undertaking consultation on change of use of the old Beer Social Club

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Beer Community Land Trust (CLT) is applying to redevelop the old Social Club site for community housing. This will require a change of use from ‘employment and community use’ to ‘domestic housing’.  In order to comply with planning policy, we have to consult with the community on their preferred options for a change of use.  If you are resident in Beer and would like to contribute to this consultation, please either print out the "Consultation Form" below, complete the form and post it to Beer CLT via the Beer Parish Council letterbox at Mariners'Hall, or complete the online consultation document at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/9Z93XYP.

Please note that the consultation period ends on 27 September 2019.

 

 

Background

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Beer Social Club was established in the 1920s following the donation of the site by Clinton Devon Estates.  The original timber-framed building was built on this site.  It was extended in the 1980s following the donation of a further parcel of land by Peter Dormer to allow the construction of the skittle alley.

The Club was regularly used for village events and hosted the skittle teams and matches for many years when it was run successfully on a part-volunteer and part-paid staff basis.  Over the past 15 or more years it has had to have a number of cash injections and reorganisations and was teetering on the brink of insolvency.  In August 2016 it was closed and declared insolvent due to falling revenues and lack of use.

The Club was marketed by a local firm of estate agents from September 2016 to September 2018 as a club/commercial premises or as a potential domestic building site (no planning applied for).  To our knowledge, there were no offers to purchase it for use as commercial premises and the Club’s management committee finally agreed a sale to Beer CLT in November 2018.  Beer CLT is now applying for planning permission to develop seven affordable homes on this site for the people of Beer.

The Club had, in the past, proved to be a popular venue.  However, in recent years membership and use had declined dramatically.  This could be attributed to various factors, including change in user habits and expectations, quality of the facilities and prevalence of alternative venues in the village.  There are currently three public houses in the village, one of which has a skittle alley, a large community hall with stage, bar and sports facilities, a large church hall suitable for meetings, and two sports clubs with bar and meeting room facilities:
 Dolphin Hotel
 The Barrel of Beer
 Anchor Inn
 Mariners' Hall

 Congregational Church Hall

 Beer Sailing Club
 Beer Football Club

 

The loss of the Club is regretted but was sadly inevitable given the lack of use.  Whilst there are employment implications, these are minimal, as in its former use employment was only one or two part-time staff working the bar and cleaning.  The loss of the community facility, while unfortunate, is mitigated by the number of alternative venues throughout the village.

 

The proposal

 

The proposed change of use is to provide seven affordable houses, owned by Beer CLT, a community not-for-profit organisation (see "Project 2" on this web site).  The houses will include four 3-floor, 2-bedroom houses and three 1- and 2-bedroom flats each giving level access suitable for disabled or elderly occupants.

 

Four houses will be available for "affordable rental" (80% of the market rate) and three will be available for "shared ownership" purchase (allowing 50% to 75% ownership with the rental element on the balance of ownership discounted by 20%).

 

The houses will be owned and managed by Beer CLT with a condition that rental houses must be offered to people with a housing need and a strong Beer connection (see below). The shared-ownership houses will also have conditions so that initial and any future sales must be to people with a housing need and a strong Beer connection (see below).

Should the planning application come forward it will be subject to assessment and consultation by the planning authority who will take the decision to approve or refuse it.

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Allocation Criteria - Rental Housing Units

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Local Needs Persons
Are applicants on the Council’s Housing Register (“the Register” Devon Home Choice) and will be selected and allocated for the Affordable Housing Units in accordance with criteria below.
Eligibility of applicant’s shall first be determined in accordance with the following priority order with 1 being the highest priority:

1. first, applicants with a Local Connection to the Principal Parish who are in Bands A-D of the Register;
2. second, applicants with a Local Connection to the Neighbouring Parishes who are in the Bands A-D of the Register;
3. third, applicants with a Local Connection to the Principal Parish who are in Band E of the Register;
4. fourth, applicants with a Local Connection to the Neighbouring Parishes who are in Band E of the Register;
5. fifth, applicants with a Local Connection to the District of East Devon who are on Bands A-E of the Register.

Local Connection
Means a person with a connection to a parish or parishes (as appropriate) demonstrated by one or more of the following categories prioritised 1 to 3 with 1 being highest priority:
1. persons who have been ordinarily resident therein for a period of 3 years immediately prior to being offered a home or for a period of 5 years at some time in the past;
2. persons not resident therein but either employed in the parish on a permanent basis, or self-employed with a permanent work base in the parish, for a continuous period of 1 year and for at least 16 hours per week, or
3. persons who can demonstrate a close family connection, one in which a caring dependency can be identified, to the parish.  A close family connection is one where the person’s mother, father, son or daughter or sibling has been ordinarily resident in the parish for a continuous period of 5 years immediately prior to the offer of one of the homes.

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Results of the Consultation

The results of this consultation are available as a PDF file on this web site as of 23 October 2019 by clicking on the image below: