FOUR Grayshott landmarks have been granted extra protection by being designated as Assets of Community Value (ACV).

East Hampshire District Council has backed the village parish council’s request for The Fox and Pelican pub, the Royal British Legion, Grayshott Social Club, and the Jubilee Hut, used by the Scouts and PK Pre-School, to all be made ACVs.

If an ACV is put up for sale, the community is given more time to raise the finance and prepare to bid for it in order to preserve it for the benefit of local residents.

Owners wanting to change the planning use class of a public house or to demolish it, for example, must allow regular customers the opportunity to comment.

ACV status is a material consideration in a planning application and can be used by the Planning Inspectorate as a factor in refusing planning permission for change of use or demolition. The community right to bid allows an ACV to be purchased by a user group or the local community, and a registered building can be compulsorily purchased by the local authority or council “if the asset is under threat of long-term loss to the community”.

Parish councillors gave careful consideration as to which buildings should be nominated, and agreed that all four met the necessary criteria. They also felt the parish council and/or the community would want the opportunity to bid, as the buildings would be a loss to Grayshott should they be sold for development.

Local authorities are required to add ACVs to the local land charges register.

This ensures prospective owners are aware of the listing, as local land charges apply to both registered and unregistered land.

East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds said: “I’m delighted Grayshott Parish Council has successfully registered four buildings in the village as Assets of Community Value.

“Each of these are important to local community life in Grayshott, and are exactly the type of assets the register is designed to protect, so well done to the clerk Laura Musco and the rest of the team on the parish council for putting in the effort to make this happen.”