Homes plan for blaze pub

THE FUTURE of The Golden Martlet pub in Hellingly, which was ravaged by fire at the weekend, is in further doubt because of a planning wrangle.

On Tuesday, three days after the blaze that gutted the top floor, the owners proposal to demolish the former railway hotel in Station Road and build up-market houses, were outlined at a planning appeal at the Boship Farm Hotel.

Inspectors picked their way through the burnt wreckage and debris of the devastated pub building, after listening to planners and the pub s owners argue their respective cases.

Condemning the 19th century three-storey building as an eyesore Alfriston architect, Clifford Nicholson, who is acting for owners, Chris Servais and Eddie Ballinger, appealed against Wealden District Council s repeated refusal to grant planning permission.

District planners have consistently thrown out applications from Nicholson Design Consultants for up to ten new houses on what the owners claim is a two acre brown field site.

Wealden planning chief, Patrick Coffey, told the inquiry that, although the site could loosely be described as brown field because some of the outbuildings were currently used for concerts and a squash court, the proposed new housing couldn t be considered in the same category as the government approved redevelopment of urban sites.

The pub was effectively in the middle of nowhere, and there was no infrastructure of local services to support such a development, he said.

Local residents also spoke of flooding fears on the site, and mourned the threatened loss of a local pub. A decision on the appeal is expected within six weeks.

District environmental health and safety officers visited the pub this week to assess risks after Saturday night s serious fire, when three people were rescued in a rooftop drama.

Flames burst through the roof, after fire gutted third floor rooms at 4.45am, and trapped sleeping tenants in first floor bedrooms.

Landlord, Chris Servais, who has run the pub for 23 years, woke to flames and thick smoke.

A Hailsham fire crew, which was first on the scene, used a hydraulic platform to rescue Mr Servais and two other men, helping them to safety down a ladder.

Crews also donned breathing apparatus to search for another tenant, Teresa Gape, 23, who they feared might be trapped in her room.

In all, 35 fire-fighters from Hailsham, Heathfield, Mayfield, Pevensey, Eastbourne and Bexhill worked with six police units, using four hoses and a turntable ladder to bring the blaze under control.

A fire investigation officer was soon on the scene to try and discover what caused the fire. A police spokesman said there were no suspicious circumstances.