Chesham Arms campaigners ‘quietly confident’ ahead of public inquiry

Ongoing battle: Chesham Arms campaigners protest outside Town Hall. Photograph: Josh Loeb

Local residents fighting to save the Chesham Arms pub in Hackney are facing their biggest challenge yet as the decision moves to a Public Inquiry next week.

The Chesham Arms on Mehetabel Road was a popular local pub for 150 years before property developer Mukund Patel bought it in October 2012.

Since the sale, local residents fighting the Save the Chesham Arms campaign have been battling to stop the pub being turned into flats.

The hearing, which will begin on June 24 at the Hackney Picturehouse, will discuss a request to the Planning Inspector by Mr Patel to grant permission for the creation of a flat on the Chesham Arms site.

The Churchwell Resident’s Group – who represent householders in the streets around the pub and who have been given a formal role in the Inquiry – will be asking the Inspector to throw the request out.

In November 2012, Mr Patel decided to split the property and rent part of it as a flat without planning permission despite Hackney Council informing him it was required.

He then declared that the pub would be used as an office instead, a “permitted development” which puts the property outside the control of the council.

Local residents later noticed that Mr Patel was advertising a self-contained flat for rent on the upper floor of the Chesham Arms, prompting the council to launch an investigation.

The Chesham Arms pub became Hackney’s first Asset of Community Value (ACV) in March 2013 – a move that recognized the importance of the pub as a social space vital for the community and which offered the pub limited legal protection.

In October, Mr Patel launched a legal challenge against the listing of the Chesham Arms as an ACV but a judge rejected his appeal. The council then served the property developer with a planning enforcement notice, a move that has led to the Inquiry next week.

Local resident Martyn Williams, who will give evidence at the Planning Inquiry, said:

“When we started trying to save the our local pub, I can’t say I ever expected to be called up before a judge or would need to speak at a Public Inquiry. I hoped the developer would do the decent thing – apply for planning permission for his proposed flats, let local voices be heard and let the Council make a decision.

“Instead, this developer has thrown huge sums of money at lawyers and experts to try and outwit us with all kinds of bizarre legal challenges. So far, good local knowledge and a lot of careful research means we have held our own and won every battle. We are quietly confident we can do it again.”