The Story So Far…
The simple objective of the Save The Fox and Hounds Campaign is to get the pub open as our village community social hub and successful destination pub for the Cotswolds and beyond.
Our Campaign has been running since the pub was closed by the owners back in 2016.
The Fox and Hounds was only put on the market between December 2018 and June 2019, and we expected that it would sell and give the pub a new lease of life. In spite of receiving offers to buy the pub at prices at or above the professional valuation commissioned by Stratford District Council at that time, the owners have refused them all. The pub meanwhile has been allowed by the owners to fall into disrepair. Scroll down to see the timeline of the Campaign opposition to the owners’ four applications for change of use to residential.
The Fox and Hounds before 2015
Opposing Planning Applications
The Campaign has opposed 3 applications from the owners to Stratford District Council to change the Fox and Hound’s use from a pub to private residential use.
1st Planning Application (2018): proposed change of use to 2 residential dwellings. Objections from 185 people were sent in. This application was withdrawn before a planning decision could be made.
2nd Planning Application (2021): proposed that only the B&B accommodation in the pub was converted to residential use. District Council rejected this application.
3rd Planning Application (2022) to change the Fox and Hounds into 2 residential properties was refused by Stratford District Council on 21st June 2023 at a Planning Committee Meeting. The Campaign team was accompanied by 40 to 50 supporters at the meeting and showed the Committee that the Campaign continues to have strong and determined support. Over 220 objections had been sent in both from Little and Great Wolford and many surrounding villages. This Planning Application was appealed by the owners and they have won this Appeal. A Statutory Challenge by this Campaign is now underway (see Home Page).
…and in recent years
4th Planning Application (2023) 23/01922/FUL. This Application, originally submitted in 2023 was to to change the Fox and Hounds into a single residential dwelling. Due to a robust legal challenge from the Campaign’s barrister, It was invalidated at the very last moment in March 2024 when the Planners finally admitted it did not comply with the Planners’ own Marketing Rules in the Local List. It was re-validated by the Planners a month later with an out-of-date 5-year old Marketing report. The application was finally refused in August 2024 at the Planning Committee for reasons of viability and an out of date marketing report after submissions by the Wolfords Joint Parish Council and the Campaign. The Planning Committee concluded: “In light of the recent reasonable offers made to purchase the Fox and Hounds Inn, the Local Planning Authority considered that there is a realistic prospect of the facility continuing for commercial and operational reasons on the site”. Our challenge incuded a Viability Report from Morgan and Clarke (Chartered Surveyors and the author is the owner of a pub).
Social Media and Publicity
We have a Facebook page and the Campaign has featured three times on BBC Midlands Today – the last interview with the Campaign team was in March 2024. The Stratford Herald and the Cotswold Journal have also run features on the Campaign.