A CAMPAIGN to stop The Lamb Inn in Sandford being turned into houses has become a registered community benefit society.

The Lamb Inn Community Society Ltd can now accept donations, be in a position to purchase the Grade II-listed pub after raising funds, run more community engagement events and apply for grants.

The step forward follows another recent boost, in which Mid Devon District Council agreed to list the 16th-century pub as an “asset of community value”.

The new status means if the owner wants to sell it, community groups can pause the sale for six months to try to buy it. It can also influence planning decisions.

The Lamb Inn campaign aims is to bring the pub into community ownership, like other Devon pubs have been, including the Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton, the Cadeleigh Arms and the Sir Walter Raleigh in East Budleigh.

The Lamb Inn’s landlord Nick Silk is currently seeking planning permission to turn it into three three-bedroom homes.

He wants to retire, the pub has “not been a viable business” since the Covid-19 pandemic despite efforts to diversify income, and nobody made an offer to buy the pub over a two-and-a-half-year period, planning documents say.

If the council grants Mr Silk planning permission, the main pub building, the Lamb Barn next to it and the Dowrich Room at the rear would be turned into homes. There would be no car parking available.

As many as 122 people have written to Mid Devon District Council objecting to the plans.

They highlight the pub’s history, its value to the local community and question whether the business really is unviable.

You can see the application on Mid Devon District Council’s website under reference 25/00040/FULL.

To see more public notices and planning applications, visit: publicnoticeportal.uk.