PLANS to transform a 400-year-old pub into a community centre and place of worship have been reignited as bosses vow to work with Basildon Council.

South Essex Islamic Trust has resubmitted its plans to change the use of the former Barge Inn, in High Road, Vange.

Last April the charity withdrew its plans and said it could not meet demands by Basildon Council about noise and parking.

Then in October the council refused re-submitted plans over concerns about a lack of parking.

Read more: 

Geraldine Evans, 75, who ran the pub from 1965 until 2007 it would be “such a shame to lose the building”.

Mrs Evans said: “I have talked to a few councillors about the concerns and issues about the site.

“The state of the building is a huge concern and I think it would cost the new owners more than they paid for it to bring it up to specification for use.

“The state of deterioration of the building is quite frightening. I would love to see it re-open and be used by the community.

“I take on board the concerns about parking and I think it would be such a sin to lose the building as it’s so steeped in the history of Vange.”

The trust purchased the pub and began fundraising for £250,000 to cover the full cost of the site in 2019 and it was sold for £450,000 at auction by Savills.

It has been empty for five years after it shut in 2015. Historians believe the building could be up to 400-years-old.

Yetunde Adeshile, Tory councillor for Vange, also raised concerns over the parking at the site.

She said: “My number one priority is to ensure it does not get left empty.

“There is concern about parking and quite rightly too. Across Basildon there is an issue with parking and the last think we want to do is make it worse.”

A spokesman for the trust said: “We are in discussion with the council about very detailed matters. “The application is intended to address matters raised in the refusal of the earlier scheme, and that decision has also been appealed.”