Crown Hotel an Asset of Community Value?

The Crown Hotel in Stone could be listed as an Asset of Community Value, giving the town council the right to bid for it should it be sold.

The Development Sub-Committee of the town council debated on 17th July which buildings and sites in the town should be listed as assets of community value.

A previous General Purposes Committee meeting had put forward Northesk Street car park and Westbridge Park. The Development Sub-Committee heard that Stafford Borough Council – which has the final say on which assets in the town are listed – has rejected Northesk Street car park, and has yet to decide on Westbridge Park.

On Northesk Street car park, the borough council’s monitoring officer Alastair Welch says listing it as an asset of community value does not further “the social well-being or social interest of the Stone community”. Committee member Cllr Rob Kenney called for this decision to be challenged. In light of the possible loss of Crown Wharf as a space for car parking (see HERE), Cllr Kenney believes that all car parks in the town have community value.

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Cllr Kenney proposed that all car parks in the town should be listed, as well as all parks and playgrounds, and the Crown Hotel.

The Crown Hotel recently re-opened after being sold last year. It has been open as a hotel for a good few weeks but only just opened its bar area. It will be serving food soon. It is not know who the new owners are or what their plans for the hotel might be. A Little Bit of Stone has attempted on numerous occasions to get information, but this has not been forthcoming so far unfortunately.

The Localism Act allows town and parish councils to nominate buildings and land as Assets of Community Value. If listed – and Stafford Borough Council has the final decision – the town council would be notified if they were put up for sale and would have six months to make a bid. The bid would be on the open market, so there would be no guarantee of its success.

But the process is designed to give a local community the fighting chance to buy an asset of community value.