Email from J Clarkson

We received today, Friday the 28th of May, this email from J. Clarkson on behalf of Sale Hotel LLP:

THE SALE HOTEL TO RE-OPEN
The owners of The Sale Hotel are pleased to announce that they have agreed to sell the building and the adjoining car park to Greene King PLC, a national public house/restaurant operator.

It is Greene King’s intention to spend approximately £850,000 on the refurbishment of the building, which they intend to operate under their Hungry Horse format. In this regard a Premises Licence Application was made to Trafford on 18.05.2010.

For further information about Greene King and the Hungry Horse format please visit the following websites:

www.greeneking.co.uk
www.hungryhorse.co.uk

Clarification regarding sale conditions

The owners of the Sale Hotel have confirmed that there is currently a restrictive covenant in place regarding the future use of the Sale Hotel. This restrictive covenant was put in place by the previous owners and will remain in force until June 2011. What will happen after this is unclear.

THS has been informed there have been a number of parties interested in purchasing the Sale Hotel ranging from public house/restaurant owners to people wishing to restore the building to its original use as a private dwelling. Interested parties may need to clarify different permissions, such as planning permission and licence premises application, depending on their wishes for future use and it is THS's understanding that a number of interested parties would need to seek
various permissions.

THS understands a decision has been made to sell the property to a public house/restaurant operator. As stated above, there is currently a restrictive covenant in force. However, an application for a premises/club premises licence was submitted to Trafford Council on 18th May, regarding which people are able to comment by writing to The Licensing Manager, Trafford Town Hall, Talbot Road, Stretford, M32 0YJ within 28 days of the application.

Save the Sale - Club Proposal

What next?

The Campaigners to Save the Sale Hotel were led to believe that the building could never be used again as a licenced premises for contractual reasons. Local residents were pleased that this would be the case. Following upon the news that an application has been made to the Local Authority, residents have approached Trafford Heritage Society to ask how this could happen. THS has offered to listen to these concerns and to gauge the weight of feeling against the Sale Hotel re-opening as a club. Some concern has already been expressed that a licenced club will cause an unacceptable level of noise nuisance.

Good News for the Sale Hotel!?!

'This town has been sold to Tesco'

Guardian - 05/05/2010

"...This is what happened in Trafford in March, when a 168,000 sq ft store and accompanying development was granted planning permission, although an application for an 89,000 sq ft store on the same site was refused in 2006. The difference is that this time the redevelopment of Lancashire county cricket club is part of the scheme..."

Read the whole story online...

Election Debate on 4th May at 7-30pm at St. Paul's, Sale.

Metro News: Shock at schools closure proposal

Two popular primary schools face closure under plans to combat a shortage of pupil places.

Trafford Council proposes to close Worthington Primary School and Templemoor Infant School and merge them with Moorlands Junior School, building larger premises on its current site ...Read the full story online

Please sign this petition!

Please sign this online petition against a Mega Tesco opening in Stretford:

http://www.petitiononline.com/nmtgonw/petition.html

Trafford Heritage Society supports the campaign to prevent this happening for many reasons including support of local shop owners, traffic concerns (the area is congested enough) and concerns that due process has not been followed.

Please take a couple of minutes to register your concerns by signing the petition.

Every signature helps!

Sale Hotel gains listed status

Dear Friends,

We are more than happy to report that finally the Sale Hotel has gained listed status. Thanks again for all your support. Please read the article on the following link:

THE Sale Hotel has been granted listed status - marking the successful conclusion of a campaign to save the historic building from demolition.

Culture minister Margaret Hodge has supported an appeal by Trafford Council and residents and listed the 130-year-old Marsland Road building. She said this was in view of compelling new evidence about its architectural and historical importance.

Trafford Heritage Society wishes you a Merry Christmas

Trafford Heritage Society wishes you a Merry Christmas with this film of Sale Moor!

Meeting

At four o’clock today, Friday, 28.08.09, the Campaign Team met with councillors of Trafford Council, representatives of Sale Civic Society, The Friends of Walkden Gardens, local residents and Paul Goggins MP.

The discussions ranged over the prospects for a viable future for the old building, post-listing, the record of the local authority in protecting existing listed buildings in the borough, and the Save the Sale Hotel ‘story so far.’

The Campaign Team was able to find out some of the points of the discussion which were raised at the earlier meeting with the developers and from which the Campaign Team had been excluded.

One of the prospects raised at this meeting resonated with earlier suggestions by leaders of the campaign, that the Sale Hotel should become an educational facility, possibly an annexe of Sale Grammar School. This seems to have several advantages over its use as a commercial business. Firstly, it would therefore be in the public sector and immune to some degree from having to turn a profit. Secondly, its use for the purpose of education would tend to preclude very late hours and consequently would tend to be more acceptable to near neighbours. Thirdly, the ceiling heights of the building would lend its use to the performing arts. Fourthly, it would provide a more economical and more carbon friendly alternative to bussing students from the Sale Grammar site to Claremont Road, as is presently the case.

The Campaign Team drew to everyone’s attention to the fact that the Sale Hotel has not been maintained recently and that there were some slates missing from the roof. Fears were expressed that the building would rapidly deteriorate if rain water was able to penetrate the fabric of the building. There was some discussion about whether the owner could be legally compelled to make repairs, but the view was expressed that effectively it was not possible. The Campaign Team made mention that Trafford MBC actually owned a number of listed buildings which were in an extremely poor state of repair. One of the members the Campaign Team pointed out to the councillors present at the meeting that Trafford MBC would look very silly if they attempted to criticise the owner of the Sale Hotel for failing to make small repairs, if the Council were unwilling to address their own responsibilities in this regard.

The mobile telephone installation, which made use of the tower of the Sale Hotel has been decommissioned. There was a suggestion that planning permission had been sought of Trafford Council to lay new mobile telephone facilities to the car park of the Sale Hotel, possibly implying that the site would still operate mobile telephone communications.

The Campaign Team raised the question why Trafford MBC had not appointed a Heritage Champion, consistent with the practice of many other local councils.

The Campaign Team raised important questions of principle about the near demolition of the Sale Hotel. Why had the Heritage Protection Bill been withdrawn from the forthcoming parliamentary session ? Paul Goggins offered to pursue this with the Secretary of State for CMS. Why had Trafford MBC failed to inform many of those interested parties in the borough that a notice to demolish the building had been received. None of the groups and societies, for example, Sale Civic Society had been informed. Few residents had been informed. The councillors representing Trafford MBC at this meeting were unable to say why there had been a lack of consultation.

The Grade 2 Listing

The Campaign Team received an e-mail from English Heritage, this afternoon, 27.08.09, stating the revised recommendation that the Sale Hotel be designated a Grade 2 Listed Building. The recommendation acknowledges the strength of local support for the old building. The Campaign Team wishes to thank Paul Goggins MP for his support in getting us this far and Victoria Frankland for her support with Facebook. But although we can claim victory in this round, there is still a long way to go in securing the future of the Sale Hotel. The overwhelming support we have received from local businesses and residents of Sale and Sale Moor will be crucial in establishing a viably economic future for the building. But let's take a short breather and enjoy this moment!

Listen to our campaign story so far!

We outline action taken to date including the blog, facebook and the petition.

Whilst there is currently a building protection notice in force, the building has yet to be formally listed and so there is only temporary protection at present. To preserve the building it will need to become a listed building and this decision lies in the hands of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. You can help by urging the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to list THE WHOLE OF the building without any further delay.

Email: http://www.blogger.com/enquiries@culture.gov.uk
Phone: 0207 211 6200

‘Development; a misused word’, by Urban Critic of Sale

Recent posts raise some interesting questions about developers and development. Generally, the word ‘develop’ carries the meaning of ‘improvement.’ ‘To develop’ means something like ‘to improve’. And yet the activity of those who have ‘developed’ urban sites, particularly in Sale, in recent times, have been anything but improvements. The Campaigners who trudged around the area collecting signatures for the Paper Petition, found that a frequent complaint against Trafford Council was precisely this; that the Council had permitted the demolition of an old building, and the Planning Department had subsequently approved its replacement by worse. It’s almost as if Trafford Planning Department and the Committee of Councillors who are supposed to direct the officials, are incapable of recognising what is attractive. The ‘development’ opposite Sale Station was frequently cited by signatories of the petition as an ‘eyesore.’ The best thing one could say about it is that it’s a bit ‘Soviet’. To make matters worse, it does not appear to have been constructed with a view to maintaining an attractive exterior.

The wooden panels seem to be showing deterioration. Whereas some panels

 have retained some semblance of colour, others, which are presumably exposed to more severe weather have gone that funny grey colour which garden furniture acquires, if you don’t give it a lick of teak oil once in a while. Very disappointing. Is it any wonder that the people of Sale have opposed the demolition of the good old Sale Hotel and given a ‘thumbs down’ to the mediocre modern?

Still no new news on the Listing

Letter from the Listing Review Officer, Heritage Protection Branch to Markus of the Save the Sale Hotel Campaign Team:

"...

PLANNING (LISTED BUILDINGS AND CONSERVATION AREAS) ACT 1990

BUILDINGS OF SPECIAL ARCHITECTURAL OR HISTORIC INTEREST

Sale Hotel, 131 Marsland Road, Sale, Trafford, Greater Manchester

Thank you for your e-mail of 17 August 2009, in which you ask for an update on the listed status of the Sale Hotel. Following the initial decision that the Hotel should not be listed the Secretary of State is currently carrying out a review of that decision. This resulted from the submission of significant new evidence as to the architectural and historic merit of the building. In undertaking that review the Secretary of State is further consulting English Heritage and taking into account evidence provided by other interested parties.

You may know that Trafford Council have used their powers under section 3 of the 1990 Act to serve a Building Preservation Notice (BPN) on the owners of the Hotel. The BPN was dated 06 August 2009 and has the effect of treating the building as though it were listed for a period of 6 months. This will allow additional time in which to carefully consider any significant new evidence submitted for the review of the original decision.

The outcome of the review will be either that the Secretary of State has decided to reaffirm the original decision, or that the Secretary of State has decided that the earlier decision should be overturned. I will contact you again when that decision has been made. It is not possible, at present, for me to predict when the decision may be made.

I was not involved in the making of the original decision.

Yours sincerely

Listing Review Officer, Heritage Protection Branch"

Paul Goggins response to our update from yesterday

"Just to clear up any misunderstanding it might be helpful if I explain the purpose of yesterday’s meeting between the developers, local politicians and planning officials. Given all the recent events and the likely listing of the Sale Hotel the developer was keen to have an early meeting with me and local councillors. We thought it would be helpful if senior planning officers were also present.

The purpose was not to negotiate any secret deals but to gain a better understanding of the new challenges and opportunities that will present themselves once the Listing has taken place. We found the developers to be constructive in their approach - but they now have the task of giving the Sale Hotel a new purpose.

Given the fact that the original house has been added to and extended over the years they were keen to get a better understanding of what is non negotiable in terms of demolition and what may be possible. Clearly the old house and the tower must stay as well as any other parts of the building covered by the Listing.

There is no intention of excluding members of the public from discussions about the future of the Sale Hotel. The developer did not want to engage in public dialogue at this stage as there are no specific proposals under consideration and the formal Listing has not yet been made. In hindsight – and given the constructive nature of yesterday’s discussions – if the developers had been in agreement there would not in my view have been any difficulty in extending an invitation to members of the campaign group and it was good that George Cogswell joined us at the end.

Any decisions taken will need to reflect the formal Listing decision which is not yet made. And any planning application will be subject to full public consultation.

We have established a good team spirit in responding to the urgent need to protect the Sale Hotel and we have succeeded in stopping the bulldozers. But we all now have a responsibility to make sure that the building and the site can be put to good use rather than be left derelict and subject to vandalism. Living accommodation is one possibility but there may be other potential uses and it is important that all options are considered. One thing which is absolutely ruled out by the terms of the sale agreement entered in to by the developers is the use of the property as a pub or nightclub.

Given that two weeks ago none of us even knew the developers, yesterday’s discussion was a first step in trying to find a way forward that suits everyone. They made it clear that as proposals emerge they will be happy to meet and consult. In any future meetings we will make sure that representatives of the group are present and able to participate fully in the discussion.

Pending the formal decision to List we have achieved the first part of our campaign to save the Sale Hotel – congratulations again to all those who have given time to the campaign and to those who signed the petition. The second part is to find a future use for the building which is affordable and suitable. That is a task that everyone will have a say in.

Paul"

We weren't invited to the meeting!!!

The Campaign Team is alarmed that a meeting took place late this afternoon, 18.08.09, at the site of the Sale Hotel, which included the developers, employees of Trafford MBC, local councillors, and the Member of Parliament for Wythenshawe and Sale East, Paul Goggins, BUT NO MEMBERS OF THE CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE SALE HOTEL.

By chance, George Cogswell, of the Campaign Team, was passing by and was able to report a few observations, including the identity of those present.

There was discussion about the demolition of part of the Sale Hotel, by the developers.

No member of this meeting has been willing to disclose the content of the meeting, and no-one has given an explanation why the Campaign Team was not invited.

The Campaign Team is already disappointed with the performance of the Council on a number of points.

The Campaign Team was supported by 1500 signatories of the paper petition, 1700 members of the Facebook, Save the Sale Hotel group, and nearly 800 signatories of the 10 Downing Street petition.

The Campaign Team wishes it to be known that the inefficiency and lack of public consultation very nearly caused the demolition of the Sale Hotel and it is not apparent that there has been any change in Trafford Council's policy as a result. The Campaign Team invites all those supporters of ‘Save the Sale Hotel’ to register immediately dissatisfaction with the continuing mismanagement of this important matter.