A HISTORIC Otley pub that was the focus of a community campaign to save it is the subject of a planning application to turn it into a care home.

However, the plan aims to preserve the long-closed Summercross pub building for community use, using it as a bistro for both residents and Otley people.

Springfield Healthcare Group has submitted an application to Leeds City Council to redevelop the site of the pub, which stands on East Busk Lane facing Pool Road, into a 66-bed facility with a dementia care capability.

A planning statement prepared for the council’s planners says that the company first purchased the site in 2019 and consent had been granted for a care home with car parking, landscaping and amenity space, but the development did not to ahead “due to viability issues”.

Now the scheme is back on the agenda.

The planning statement says: “The applicant’s vision for the site is to refurbish the Summercross pub by undertaking vital repairs and maintenance, so that the Summercross remains the focal point of the site as the local community facility, providing within it the space to integrate the care community within to the local community.

“Our proposals seek to make the best possible use of the site at Summercross. The site is around a 10-minute walk east from Otley town centre and prior to closure, was a key part of the local community.

“The proposal comprises a 66 bed care home, utilising the existing building as a community use on ground floor and bedrooms on upper floor. The proposal also includes landscaping around the building and parking to the west. The project looks to rejuvenate the existing building with a new use and reinstate the building as the heart of the community.”

The report further says: “The ground floor of the Summercross will remain a community facility with the bistro/bar used for integrated community events. This was identified early in the project as a key requirement, and the design team have ensured that the building can be viewed as part of the local community infrastructure.”

The pub was the focus of a campaign backed by then-Otley MP Greg Mulholland and local councillors to re-open it after a different planning application to turn it into a care home back in 2009 fell by the wayside.

The pub dates back to the mid 19th Century and it remained a popular focal point in Otley until its final closure 15 years ago.

Graeme Lee, CEO of Springfield Healthcare, states in the application: “Reopening a building for the sole use as a public house in the current climate is not possible, but opening the space up to the community alongside the care facility, is a viable prospect.”
The full planning application can be viewed on Leeds Planning Portal reference 22/07870/FU.
Comments to be submitted by Wednesday, January 18. 
There is a target for a decision to be made by March 2023.