DETERMINED campaigners battling to protect a Glazebury pub believed to be more than 450 years old have submitted a fresh application to have it listed.

Residents were left outraged after a proposal to demolish the Raven Inn, on Warrington Road, was put forward by Osborne and Co.

But it was withdrawn in March following huge opposition.

An application for Historic England – the Government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment – to list the site was turned down in January.

However, it can be revealed a campaigner has submitted a fresh application.

Anyone who seeks to demolish or carry out works on a listed building requires consent from the local authority or, in some circumstances, the secretary of state.

A failure to obtain consent, when required, is an offence.

The Help Save the Raven Inn steering group says the application contains ‘fascinating’ new evidence.

The application highlights images indicating the Raven Inn previously had functions as an agricultural barn and a water mill.

It adds: “Within a national context, this building is a rare example of a purpose-built brick banked mill barn.

“National interest is also supported by its multiple ties to the feudal manorial estate system of old Lancashire.”

It has also been stated that new information indicates the pub is ‘much older than previously documented’.

Residents set their sights on turning the site into a community pub after an application to list it as an asset of community value (ACV) was approved, which came after the application to demolish it was withdrawn.

The community right to bid initiative, introduced by the Localism Act 2011, allows communities to nominate buildings or land that are important to them for listing as an ACV.

If successful, communities are afforded an opportunity, and the time, to bid to buy the assets in the event they are put up for sale.

An asset can be listed if it can be demonstrated that its primary use furthers, or has recently furthered, the community’s social wellbeing or social interests and is likely to continue doing so.