Brown Edge Parish Council is in talks to buy The Hollybush Inn as a potential means of retaining the pub's site for the community to use.

Funding to buy the pub would be provided by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, with the aim of the pub's site being managed initially by the parish council, before gradually handing over control to the local community.

The talks have come after planning permission was granted to build three houses on the pub's car park, which is used to host community events.

It's hoped that buying the pub would enable the council to retain as much of the land as possible for community use.

Speaking to Biddulph Nub News, Brown Edge Parish and Staffordshire Moorlands District councillor Linda Lea spoke more about the plans.

She said: "We're looking to buy the whole site. The company that owns the pub has been granted planning permission to build three houses on the car park, but as a community we're very short of parking spaces so we want to protect it if we can.

Owning the site would not enable the council to stop the planning application altogether, Cllr Lea explained, but it would give the authority more control over how it was carried out.

"We can't stop the houses being built altogether, but owning the site will give us more control to have it developed in a way that would be best for the community.

"It's in the very early stages so we don't know for sure what's going to happen yet, but in the long run we'd like the pub to be run by a community of local residents."

On the current status of the plans, she added: "At the minute we are negotiating with the developers about the value of the site, and the district council are working on it too.

"If we can get it off the ground, it will retain a building that's essential to the life of the village."

The plans were discussed at a meeting of Brown Edge Parish Council earlier this month.

The minutes of that meeting show that parish councillors voted unanimously to purchase the pub if funding could be secured by the district council.

The district council's chairman, Keith Flunder, was present at the meeting, and commented that the Hollybush is an exciting, brave move by Brown Edge Parish Council.

He said there will be a lot of hurdles to cross, but that he would support the council in whatever way he can. He added that the Council now needs to market the idea to the community and to form a community team who will work together and be committed to the success of the project.

Reacting to the news, a spokesperson for The Hollybush said on social media: "Don't worry regarding the pub, it definitely won't be closing due to any uncertain times brought on by Covid or anything else.

"For the record, we want the new car park at the rear, which will give the pub a much better seated beer garden area with more parking spaces for customers than ever before.

"Also, there will be no alterations to the existing structure or layout without the current leaseholder's permission, who as of yet have not had any official communication from the parish council."

To read the parish council meeting's minutes in full, click here.