AN Art Deco pub refurbished using £400,000 of taxpayers' money could be transformed into shops and homes after the partial failure of a multi-million-pound scheme aimed at improving people's lives in part of Derby.
The Blue Boy, in Wiltshire Road, Chaddesden, benefited from the New Deal scheme in 2004 when the cash was spent on a major refurbishment to turn it into a "community pub".
But, after almost a decade of disappointment, which saw the building change hands several times, a planning application has been drawn up that would see its time as a pub end for good.
Peter Ballard was chairman of the resident-led Derwent Community Team, which made the decision to spend the £400,000.
He no longer believes the Blue Boy has a future as a pub but says the decision to spend was made unanimously after it was requested by residents.
Mr Ballard said: "New Deal ran various activities in there, including computer classes, because it was a big space. If it worked, it would have been brilliant, but you need custom to make it work."
New Deal for Communities was a flagship scheme for the Labour Government when the scheme began in the city council's Derwent ward in 2001.
The Blue Boy, built in 1936 in an Art Deco style, was one of four major projects in the area on which New Deal cash was spent. Another included the Derventio Iron Age village, which cost £800,000, opened in 2007 and closed six months later.
The owner of the shop next to the derelict Blue Boy pub is in no doubt that it is time for a change.
Speaking from behind his counter at Buk-Tar clothing and shoes shop, Bupinder Buctkuar, said of the pub site: "It has been closed from the middle of last year and it has been opened and closed on and off since before then.
"Hardly anyone used to go in there. It's time for it to be sorted for the area's sake."
It is a sentiment that is a far cry from calls from residents for the site to become a community pub more than a decade ago. In 2004, £400,000 of Government, and thus taxpayers' money, was spent on refurbishing it. That cash came through the New Deal for Communities Scheme, launched by the previous Labour Government, with the aim of tackling issues faced by England's most deprived areas.
It was a scheme through which £39.5 million was spent in Derwent, with a resident-led body deciding what to use the cash for. And it remains a hot political potato today.
On the one hand, Labour say it empowered the community and gave it the opportunity to try out some of its own ideas.
They point to a reduction in unemployment and the tackling of health issues such as teenage pregnancy.
But the Tories say it has been a "disaster from start to finish" and point to the £400,000 spent on the Blue Boy as an example of where money was spent on projects of dubious value.
Another example was the Derventio Heritage Village, which cost £800,000 but closed after just six months in 2007.
Tory opposition leader Philip Hickson said of the Blue Boy: "It was absolute madness to invest public money into a failing industry. The writing had been on the wall for estate-type pubs like that for some time.
"Anyone with any sense wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole."
The new application for the site has come from 1(NA) Mansfield Ltd which bought the building from Enterprise Inns in September.
It would change the use of the site, converting it into three flats on the first floor, shops on the ground and six houses to the rear.
There is a some support for the application in the area, though also some concern about what would happen if a supermarket went there.
Nick Grace, partner at GraceMachin Planning & Property, architect for the scheme, said the mixed-use bid was "not being made on behalf of a supermarket".
Peter Ballard was chairman of the resident-led Derwent Community Team which made the decision to spend the £400,000 and he no longer believes that the building is in the "right place" for such a venture.
Asked if the £400,000 should have been spent in the first place, he said: "The idea at the time was to make a community pub and New Deal ran various things in there, including computer classes, because it was a big space.
"If it had worked, it would have been a brilliant idea but you need custom to make it work."
Mr Ballard said the unanimous decision to spend the money, reached by the Derwent Community Team, had come "following a request from local residents to the board at the time".
Liberal Democrat campaigner Richard Hudson, who lives in Coniston Crescent, Breadsall estate, has been calling for the pub to be used to help with housing demand.
He said he was "happy" with the latest application but that he felt more space could be used for homes on the building's front car park site.
Mr Hudson said these homes could go some way towards solving housing shortage problems which have led to the controversial suggestion that homes could be built on nearby green land at the corner of Taddington Road and Wollaton Road.
Mr Hudson said: "I have envisioned the building to be used in this way for a long time. It is long overdue because, as much as people would like a pub, there is no business case. Under current circumstances, housing is the best option."
The planning application says: "By locating increased retail provision in the Blue Boy, there is potential not only to improve the quality of the local centre but also to reduce the need for car journeys for convenience shopping."
A decision on the application is expected by February 10. But, whatever the outcome, the idea of a bustling community pub seems to be long gone.
OTHER MAJOR PROJECTS FOR DERWENT PAID FOR NEW DEAL FOR COMMUNITIES:
Derventio Heritage Village must go down as a failure after surviving just six months despite costing £800,000.
The Gateway Centre, Grandstand Road, was built in 2004 using £5 million of the New Deal cash. It was intended to provide community fitness facilities. A gym there closed in 2009 but it still houses a five-lane indoor cricket centre.
In August, the Derby Telegraph reported that Derbyshire County Cricket Club was interested in acquiring the freehold to the centre.
The owner of the building is Revive, a charitable legacy of Derwent Delivers.
Peter Ballard said a previous offer for the building fell "far short of the building's current valuation".
He said that cash from any sale could go towards helping people in the area.
The £4 million Revive Healthy Living Centre, Roe Farm Lane, has been credited with health improvements in the area.
According to a poll in 2008, 49% of people in Derwent felt their own health was good in 2008, higher than the average for the rest of the city and up from 43% in 2002.
At one stage, the total amount of funding for Derwent for New Deal was expected to be more than
£42 million. But Mr Ballard said some of that was taken back in early 2012.
A Government spokeswoman said: "Derwent NDC received £39.5 million. This was
£2.9 million short of the original allocation as a result of them failing to successfully deliver some of their projects."
The leader of Derby City Council, Labour's Paul Bayliss, said he did not agree with the Tories' negative assessment of New Deal. He said: "It empowered the community and gave it the opportunity to try things out. Some projects worked, some didn't. But it improved healthcare outcomes and employment opportunities."
POLL: Did New Deal improve life in Chaddesden? Have your say on our poll, on the right.![Another Derby New Deal failure wastes taxpayers' £400,000]( "Another Derby New Deal failure wastes taxpayers' £400,000")
