Crooked House pub rebuild hearing delayed after owners appeal to High Court

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A planning inquiry set up after the owners of the historic Crooked House were ordered to rebuild the pub has been delayed after an appeal to the High Court.

The enforcement notice requiring the pub to be rebuilt “so as to recreate it as similar as possible to the demolished building” was served on pub owners, Adam and Carly Taylor, and the company secretary of Warwickshire-based ATE Farms Ltd by South Staffordshire Council in February 2024.

A hearing before a planning inspector had been expected to start considering an appeal against the re-build notice in March 2025.

But the owners have launched a High Court challenge against the inquiry, and the hearing will now be postponed. The council claims that the demolition of the pub in Himley, near Dudley, two days after it was destroyed by fire on August 5 2023, constituted a breach of planning controls.