Park Pharmacy Trust, together with ward councillors, the conservation society and twenty-nine residents opposed the planning application to build four townhouses in the garden of its headquarters, Thorn Park Lodge in the Mannamead conservation area. Our charity had spent over £150,000 creating a garden of raised beds with dry stone walls containing plants used in medicine. There visitors can learn about the plants or just sit and enjoy the small scale charm of this beautiful tranquil garden. The proposed development would have destroyed the garden together with its trees, pond and habitats for wildlife.
The planners claimed that Thorn Park Lodge and garden was a residential property and not parkland in spite of representations by the trust to the contrary. However, it was subsequently discovered that the lodge and garden had been purchased in 1951 as part of the land acquired under a compulsory purchase for the establishment of Mutley Park. In addition it was learned that there are a number of restrictive covenants on the land. The garden has now been saved for the community by this discovery but at a terrible cost to the future of the Pharmacy.
We have leased the lodge, which is within Mutley Park, from the council for close to 25 years and tried to persuade the Council to abandon their plans to enter into a profit sharing arrangement with the developer, following the granting of permission for the development. As there is no appeal against the granting of planning permission Park Pharmacy Trust took the only option available: judicial review. This costly High Court option does not permit the merits of the planning application to be re-examined only to see whether there were legal irregularities in the decision-making process. Unfortunately our attempt to overturn the planning permission failed. The trust has now been saddled with a demand of over £50,000 costs from the Council. This amount includes profit to the Council who are allowed to claim £161 per hour for their own legal support staff. It is a complicated legal procedure so for more information on the judicial review process please take a look at Dr Jan Knights letter to the Plymouth Herald, published on September 3rd 2009.
The famous CJ Park Pharmacy open to the public in the The Merchant's House Museum, is the trust's only unprotected asset. It has been valued at over £55,000, however to realise its full value the Council might have to break up the collection and auction it in separate lots. This would be a tragedy – for us and for the wider community as the collection is recognised Nationally and internationally. The Park Pharmacy is a fantastically popular tourist attraction with links to local schools and community groups. It is staffed entirely by trust volunteers; the Council charge visitors £2 each to visit it and pay the trust a hire fee of £3,400 which includes all the trained volunteers together with specialist professional services per year. There are many accounts in the visitor book saying it is the best attraction in the museum.
Please help to save the Pharmacy for the people of Plymouth. Contact your ward councillors, write to the chief executive, do anything you can to either abandon their claim for costs or persuade the Council to increase the hire fee to a commercial fee. With a higher rent for care and management of the Pharmacy, the trust could repay the council in just a few years.
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Link to a great story in The Herald 
