CONCERNS are growing that plans to build houses on a pub car park could be the ‘death knell’ for the popular watering hole.
The application to develop the land behind the Red Lion in Haddenham has been handed to Aylesbury Vale District Council and will be decided over the next couple of months.
It is likely Haddenham Parish Council will recommend the application be turned down on the grounds it could mean the end of the picturesque pub which is situated opposite the idylic village green and church.
The details of the bid were outlined to residents at Monday’s parish council meeting.
If successful, the application will see the existing outbuilding to the rear of the Red Lion demolished and three new houses built.
The new properties would also use up a significant amount of the pub’s current parking spaces.
Residents are concerned the reduction in parking will mean there is less chance of the pub, which is currently operating at a loss according to the owner’s representatives, from being taken over and run sucessfully.
Councillor David Truesdale, chairman of the parish planning committee, said: “There are two points to this. First it is really difficult to judge this without giving some thought to what will happen to the pub.
“What we would want to do first and foremost is to see if the pub is viable.
“To me it seems a little premature and could be seen as the death knell of the pub.
“Secondly, in its own terms I think the feeling we have got from the correspondence is that three dwellings in that little area is too much.”
Comments on the application should be sent to AVDC by February 2.