12 August 2025 - A planning update
An update to clarify the significant planning conditions that apply to The Lamb pub, the car park and the garden
You may have noticed that The Lamb pub in Stoke Goldington is now being advertised for sale as two plots:
Plot 1 - the pub building and part of the car park, plus a small bit of garden area.
Plot 2 - the rest of the car park and the beer garden (being marketed as potential development land, subject to planning permission being obtained).
People are asking us about the planning conditions that apply to the site.
Our professional advisers have confirmed that there are significant factors that would need to be taken into account by any buyer:
Both plots are registered together as an Asset of Community Value. (Read our FAQs for more information on what this means). An ACV is a material consideration in any planning application for any development within its boundary.
MK Council's planning policies protect community facilities. The Council requires anyone submitting a planning application to demonstrate there is no longer a need for a building or any associated land in any form of community use before other forms of development are acceptable. So if someone wanted to buy the pub or its land and change it into, say, a private home or a site for new homes, a car wash or anything else, they would need to show that our village no longer wanted or needed a pub.
Developers would need to demonstrate that any associated land (such as the car park and gardens) is surplus to requirements. This can only be done if it has been “robustly evidenced by research and consultation” with the local community.
In planning law, pubs are categorised within a 'use class' of their own (called 'Sui Generis'). This means that planning permission would be required to change its use from a pub to, say, a restaurant, office or anything else. There is no planning application on Plot 1 at the current time.
Plot 2 does not benefit from any planning permission for housing development at the current time. There is also no planning application at the current time.
Plot 2 forms an essential part of the pub, providing off-street parking and outdoor space.
Both plots are located within the village’s designated Conservation Area and the whole of the beer garden is identified as an important green space in the Conservation Area.
The majority of the beer garden is within Flood Zone 3 and unsuitable for residential use or development. (See more details on the Government's flood map).
Any community bid for The Lamb will be for both plots together as a single entity - the pub, with its car park and a potentially lovely beer garden which form a key part of a vital village facility! Read about our vision for The Lamb here.
Article edited 13 August 2025 to remove reference to a Tree Preservation Order on the site (looks like the tree has gone).