• Site: The site of the former Farmers public house in London Road opposite the station
• Proposed Development: The Farmers site was first given planning consent for 18 flats and 5 maisonettes plus some retail units on appeal in March 2005 (APP/G2245/A/04/1158099). A token start was made on site by demolishing a popular local pub and digging a few trenches in order to preserve the planning permission.

A second application was made for a larger development, this time for 39 flats and some retail units, which was granted on appeal in February 2015 (APP/G2245/W/14/2222635)

• Society Response: We and SDC objected to this development as being over-dense, poorly designed and inappropriate for this sensitive location, with inadequate parking and insufficient affordable housing. But it was twice granted consent on appeal although it remains to this day derelict and undeveloped.

The Society continues to press SDC to use all means available to the Council including the threat of compulsory purchase to get the Farmers site into development. The President has written to the Leaders of the Conservative and Liberal-democrat parties on the District and Town Councils, and to the Chief Executive and Chief Planning officer of the District Council, with a detailed Proposal for the making of a Compulsory Purchase Order. The aim is to achieve a better-designed building with a substantial affordable housing element.

At the full District Council meeting on 18th July 2023 a motion that the Council should make a compulsory purchase order to acquire the site was rejected following opposition from new Leader of the Council.

• Comments: The site is owned by the Glenman Corporation, an Irish Company.