The Crooked House in Himley, West Midlands, sometimes referred to as "Britain's wonkiest pub", was demolished within 48 hours of a large fire on the night of Saturday 5th August. This petition is for the current owners of the site - ATE Farms Ltd - to be compelled to rebuild the building in full, brick by brick, and for the local council - South Staffordshire Council - to take the strongest possible action against ATE Farms Ltd for their egregious breaches of planning legislation.

ATE Farms Ltd is controlled by Carly Taylor, 34. Her husband Adam, 44, is a shareholder and former director of Himley Environmental Ltd which operates a landfill next to the Crooked House site.

Staffordshire Police and the fire service have not as yet confirmed whether the fire was started deliberately, but it has been confirmed that piles of rubble and debris were placed blocking access roads to delay the arrival of the firefighters. While the fire gutted the interior of the property, the exterior was largely intact until demolition within 48 hours of the fire.

Prior to demolition, the site was visited by officials from South Staffordshire Council. Council leader Roger Lees yesterday made the following statement:

"Our officers carried out a site visit to the site yesterday (7th August), prior to the demolition of the building. Officers agreed a programme of works with the landowner’s representative to ensure the safety of the building and the wider site.

"The agreed course of action included the removal of three elements of the first-floor front elevation only. This was only to avoid the weak parts of the structure from falling. At no point did the council agree the demolition of the whole structure nor was this deemed necessary.

"Demolition of a building should be carried out in accordance with Schedule 2 Part 11 Class B of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. The steps required by the legislation were not carried out in this case. We have referred these matters to our legal team with a view to taking enforcement action."

I would ask that people do the following:

• contact South Staffordshire Council to ask that they carry out the strongest possible enforcement of the breaches of planning legislation, and to seek an injunction to prevent any further development of and/or damage to the site until such a time as a legal mechanism can be found to compel the new owners to restore the building to its condition at the time of purchase.
• send copies of these communications to Andy Street, Mayor for the West Midlands, requesting that he supports South Staffs Council to achieve these aims.
• contact ATE Farms Ltd to express their concerns over both recent events and the future of the site. There does not appear to be a publicly published telephone number or email address for the company but ATE Farms Ltd's contact address (according to Companies House) is Colinton House, Leicester Road, Bedworth, Warwickshire, CV12 8AB. Himley Environmental Ltd can be contacted at the same address.

In addition, anyone with information regarding the fire is asked to contact Staffordshire Police on 101, quoting incident 761 of 5th August.

Thank you for your time.