It was good news that there seemed to be some movement on The Plough issue. Clearly the owners are thinking about ways of finding a new use for the building whilst recognising its historic value.
But there is always a need for caution when deal with planning applications though. Media sources often present planning applications as a hard and fast commitment to do something. It’s a bit more complicated than that.
Planning is part of a process in delivering a scheme.
A developer might test whether a new use of a building is acceptable before commiting addition resources to test other elements of the scheme – such as financial viability.
Others may be seeking planning permission to increase the value of their land holding before selling it on.
Or they may need to seek a partner to take on and operate the project.
All of these, and more, may present stumbling blocks to a plan coming to fruition.
The Plough application may well be approved. But there will still be a long way to go before we see the solution on the ground.