Plans to build new homes on the site of a derelict Grade II-listed pub have been submitted, a few months after permission for a residential development and a Tesco store was refused.
A planning application was received by Redbridge Council for three four-bedroom terrace houses on the land adjacent to the former Doctor Johnson pub, Longwood Gardens, Clayhall.
This comes after Tesco was refused permission to build a shop and flats on the site of the 1930s pub in September because of a lack of on-site parking.
The supermarket chain bought the site two years ago, but residents signed a petition to oppose the plans for the pub, which has been unused since 2010.
The new application for the site, submitted by a Mr Sanger, proposes that three houses with rear gardens and six parking spaces be built on a 900 metre square piece of land, which used to be the pub’s car park and beer garden, while the pub would remain untouched.
The application states: “Although planning permission was recently refused for three dwellings on this site, it was as part of a much larger scheme involving the alteration, extension and change of use of the adjoining Grade II-listed building,” adding that the new plans should be recommended for approval.
It also mentions a council report from 2013/14, which said there was a shortfall of 1,455 four-bedroom houses in the borough.
Stacey Ismael, owner of nearby dog grooming salon Paw-Fect, who would have welcomed a Tesco shop, said: “I have no problem with them building houses there. It is just a shame they are not doing anything with the Johnson building.
“It used to be such a beautiful building – once upon a time.
“Now it’s just a complete eyesore and it is deteriorating.”
Paul Struck, 39, of Seven Kings, who knows the area well, argued: “It is wrong to build on green space, even if that’s just the pub’s garden. I would like to see it return to its former use – as a pub.”
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