A DILAPIDATED pub could be taken over by a parish council after locals pushed forward with plans to acquire the building.

The owner of The Pheasant Inn, in Welland, near Malvern, has put the pub on the market and the parish council has expressed an interest in buying it.

Viv Nelson, the chairman of Little Malvern and Welland Parish Council, said the building is an asset of community value and backed a community takeover.

She added that locals voted overwhelmingly in favour of making a bid for the pub, at a meeting in the village hall on Monday, April 24.

Ms Nelson said: “Everyone except one person was in favour of buying the pub.

“The meeting was to tell people we have the opportunity to acquire the pub if we want to. It would become a community pub.

“It’s been empty for seven years. The landlords left, they couldn’t make it pay.

“We now have six months to raise the money that the owner is asking for. If we don’t buy the pub he might sell it to someone else.

“It needs to be rewired and needs new pipes. It will cost £200,000 to £500,000 to renovate and around £195,000 for the actual pub.”

Ms Nelson added that the renovations were necessary because vandals had wrecked the pub’s interior over the years.

The council has set up a steering group to look at acquiring grants to fund the takeover.

Councillors voted on Wednesday, April 26, to invoke a six month moratorium on the sale, which puts the council forward as a bidder for the property.

They backed the owner’s latest application to build 14 houses on the site surrounding The Pheasant Inn but opposed a previous application because it was too extensive and threatened the feasibility of the pub.

Peter Bailey, the pub owner, said: “I have owned The Pheasant Inn for the past twenty years, during which time I ran it myself and then offered it to seven successive tenants on a lease basis.

“None of us were successful and the property has been empty for the past seven years, unable to attract any new tenants.

“I am delighted that the local community are going to proceed with a takeover as with their support, which has previously been lacking, the pub should be a viable proposition. I wish them every success.”