£700,000 Needed From Parish Council To Save Village's Only Shop

A Parish Council must find more than £700,000 if it wants to take over a village amenity.

One of the latest turns in the Chale Green Stores saga has seen Chale Parish Council (CPC) put forward as a potential bidder for the former shop, post office and flat.

The store was closed in October 2019, following a lengthy battle between the parish council and the owner of the building, Vern Tyerman.

The shop was unviable according to Mr Tyerman, but the parish council were said to have the funding in place to buy the store before the asking price was raised, meaning the potential sale fell through.

Earlier in the year, the store was made an Asset of Community Value,  and an intention to market or dispose of the stores was receivedby the Isle of Wight Council in June.

This means CPC has until December 28 to find £705,000 to buy the site and bring it back to community use.

Planning permission was granted to turn the once-village-hotspot into three houses, despite 62 objections and concerns about common land and contaminated land being used.

The parish has the choice of buying one or all three plots of Chale Green Stores with the most expensive, original 1910 building and shop space costing £375,000.

The second and third plots consisting of the single-storey shop building costing £230,000 and the car park area with space and permission for a three-bedroom cottage, up for £100,000.

CPC has been discussing how to raise the funds for the purchase and how to utilise the space should it be successful.

It is also asking ward councillor, Cllr Claire Critchison, to call-in the decision of planning officers who granted planning permission as it has issues with the contaminated land and ‘unlawful use of common land for private gain’.

It says those points were not adequately addressed in the planning conditions, which only stipulates a study should be done to determine the previous use of the land, as it was once a petrol station, and the ground conditions are assessed before development can start.

An informative notification was only issued on the matter of the common land, saying it should be investigated before any works commence.

The parish council has also submitted a letter of complaint to the Isle of Wight Council’s planning department about the decision.

The owner of the store, Mr Tyerman, was contacted for a comment on multiple issues but declined to respond, saying it was a private matter and ‘the facts were the facts, and if anyone delves further they would find them’.

Earlier this week, mobile fish and chip takeaway, the Jolly Fryer believed it had been stopped from serving on the land in front of the shop.

However, after posting on social media, and gaining a large response with Chale residents making it clear they were able to use the common land, the takeaway said it would be back next week.