Public consultation agreed for former Ship Inn site

Campaigners are jubilant after town councillors voted to hold a public consultation on the future of the Ship Inn site in Stonehouse.
Letters from 119 people were presented to councillors at their meeting on Monday, June 14th, urging them find out how townspeople would like to see the canal-side site developed as part of Cotswold Canals Connected’s restoration of the Stroudwater Navigation.
The 0.6-acre site, adjacent to the recently widened A419 by the traffic lights at the junction with Downton Road, is currently earmarked for housing.
In a recorded vote of 10 councillors in favour of public consultation and four against, the decision was taken to seek the views of the community to inform the strategy for the canal corridor currently being prepared by Stroud District Council.
Former Gloucestershire County Councillor for Stonehouse Lesley Williams MBE, who wrote in support of public consultation, said: “The reason this issue won’t go away is because the community wasn’t consulted prior to the land being transferred to Stroud District Council’s Housing Revenue Account in 2016.
“The people of Stonehouse feel a strong connection with the site. It has a rich industrial history and folk have good memories of times spent at the actual Ship Inn, the nearby pub that was demolished in 1997 to make way for road widening.
“In 2012, it was even turned into a temporary slipway to launch the boats that took part in Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations so there is huge interest in the community and strong opinions on how it could be developed for the maximum benefit of Stonehouse and the wider Stroud district as part of the canal project.
“Well done to Stonehouse Town Council for agreeing to hold this long-overdue public consultation!”
The details and timing of the public consultation will be finalised in the coming weeks.