Disused West Auckland pub may be turned into homes after years of neglect

PERMISSION is being sought to turn a disused village pub into housing.
A planning application has been submitted to Durham County Council to convert The Queen’s Head, in Front Street, West Auckland, into three homes.
The agents, England and Lyle Chartered Town Planners, said the village has a number of listed buildings that have previously been in commercial use. Their closure led to pressure to find alternative uses for them, the agents said.
The applicant says the proposals will bring the grade II-listed building back into use, “ensuring its long term maintenance”.
The proposed development, put forward by the agent Harkin Associates, includes two one-bedroomed homes and one two-bedroomed home, each with a downstairs lounge, kitchen and toilet and upstairs bedrooms and a bathroom. The building is said to be in “a very poor state of repair” internally. It has been neglected and is suffering from damp and rot in the walls and timber work.
There are few original features and the agents said it was in need of “immediate restoration”.
If the plans get the go-ahead the layout of the original building would be retained and existing walls would be used.
The planning application says the front elevation of the building has seen “unsympathetic new alterations and materials” which have been described as “alien” in the village’s conservation area.
The front of the building is also said to lack symmetry which can be seen in other buildings to the north of the village green.
These plans would aim to “reintroduce elements of the original facade externally” and ensure that the front of the building was enhanced.
The existing windows would be replaced and the positioning of them would be amended slightly, allowing for the two-over-two design found in many traditional buildings.
The UPVc windows will also be replaced with timber sliding sash windows. Two doors would be added to the front of the building.
However, the current front door would remain a prominent feature. The new doors would be more subtle “to help the building be read as a single entity which helps to
reveal its historic significance”.
The agents said that the development would “result in less than substantial harm on the building itself.”
It is also thought that the benefits “considerably outweigh the potential harm.” No objections to the plans have yet to be received.
Copies of the proposal can be viewed online at www.durham.gov.uk