HEREFORDSHIRE planners are due to meet today (Friday) to debate the future of the Crown Inn, Cradley.

The building's owner, David Woodward, has applied for planning permission to convert a barn at the premises into bed-and-breakfast accommodation and build four houses in the grounds.

Mr Woodward dropped an earlier plan to convert the pub itself into housing, after a local outcry and the formation of a pressure group, the Cradley Crown Crusaders.

The pub has been closed for some 15 years and Mr Woodward has owned it for about 11 years.

Members of Herefordshire Council's northern area planning sub-committee visited the site on Tuesday morning to see it for themselves.

At today's meeting, councillors were being asked to approve the applications in principle.

However, the approval is subject to the condition that work on building the new houses does not start until the Crown has been re-opened as a pub.

Nonetheless, the Crusaders are opposing the four houses in the grounds because they will use up space needed for the pub car park and beer garden. A total of 101 individual letters of objection have also been received by the council.

Today's meeting was at 1pm in the council's headquarters at Brockington, 35 Hafod Road, Hereford.