Other plans by Crooked House owners have caused anger in Midlands

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The new owners of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire, which was burned down in a fire and subsequently demolished, have angered local people in a series of other redevelopment plans across the Midlands.

Planning documents reveal ATE Farms, which bought the Crooked House from Marston’s brewery in July, and its associated companies have attracted dozens of complaints over plans that include building a solar farm and holiday lodges in the countryside, and redeveloping a village pub.

In one complaint from a local person, Adam Taylor, the husband of Carly Taylor who controls ATE Farms, was accused of having a “wilfully dangerous and chaotic attitude” to managing the countryside.

The resident, who was objecting to ATE Farms’ plans to build a solar farm, office park, farm shop and 33 holiday lodges on a former quarry in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, said the nearby village of Dunton Bassett “was lucky to survive his carelessness”.

Adam Taylor, under another company, AT Contracting and Plant Hire, also received a number of objections when he submitted plans to develop the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in the village of Willey, Warwickshire.

He reportedly bought the pub in 2020 and “gutted” the interior before the council issued a stop notice. The pub was given “asset of community value” status in 2021 but this was overturned on appeal.

Taylor submitted an application to turn the first floor of the pub into accommodation and to build a property in the car park, while maintaining the bar area inside, and plans were eventually approved despite 20 initial objections from neighbours.

The planning agent Lance Wiggins, acting on behalf of Taylor, said the plans would make the pub “viable”, and if rejected the venue would have to go back on the market.

On Friday, the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, reiterated his call for the Crooked House to be rebuilt “brick by brick”, saying he remained “laser-focused on making that happen”.

“Whoever has targeted this beloved landmark in this way has messed with the wrong pub, the wrong community, and the wrong authorities,” he said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Staffordshire police said they were treating the fire at the pub, nine days after it was sold, as arson, and were speaking to the owners as part of their inquiries.

South Staffordshire council also said it was investigating potential planning breaches after the damaged pub was bulldozed two days after the fire without permission from authorities.

It has also emerged that the excavator used to bulldoze the building was brought on site a week before the fire, according to Construction News.

Marco Longhi, the Conservative MP for Dudley North, said on Friday he would be campaigning to “close the potential loophole” that allowed the building to be demolished while the investigation into the cause of the blaze was taking place.

“Staffordshire police have said they did not have the power to stop the owner of the Crooked House from demolishing the ruins following an arson. Agencies should be given the power to take the premises under their control while investigation is being carried out,” he said.

“The site should have been cordoned off for investigation and forensics the moment the police and fire service came to the site.”

ATE Farms and AT Contracting and Plant Hire have been contacted for comment.