Test Valley wants to sell 566.8 sq m of public open space at Town Mills to the pub's brewery. Objections close on Friday, and the plan is not published online.
Test Valley Borough Council is proposing to sell 566.8 square metres of public open space beside the River Anton at Town Mills, and objections close at the end of this week.
The council’s statutory notice, published in the Andover Advertiser on 14 August, gives the areas the council’s own press release does not. Two parcels are named:
- Land to the rear of the Town Mills public house, about 425.9 square metres.
- Land to the rear of 20 Town Mills, about 140.9 square metres.
Both are described in the notice as land “held as public open space”, and the council proposes to dispose of them by freehold sale. Anyone who wants to object has to do so in writing by Friday 4 September 2026.
Why the council has to ask
The notice is made under section 123(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972. That subsection stops a council disposing of open space unless it first advertises its intention in a local newspaper “in two consecutive weeks”, and then considers any objections made to it.
There is a second half to the law that the notice does not spell out. Under section 123(2B), once open space held under section 164 of the Public Health Act 1875 or section 10 of the Open Spaces Act 1906 is sold this way, the land is “freed from any trust arising solely by virtue of its being land held in trust for enjoyment by the public”. The protection does not travel with the land.
Who is buying it
The council announced the proposal on its own website on 25 August, eleven days after the statutory notice appeared. That release names the buyer as Wadworth & Company Ltd, the owners of the Town Mills pub.
The company on the register is Wadworth and Company Limited, number 00030177, a private limited company incorporated on 18 November 1889 and registered at the Folly Road Brewhouse in Devizes. Its listed activities are brewing, wholesaling alcohol, and public houses and bars. Wadworth’s own pub listing places the Town Mills on Bridge Street, SP10 1BL, “set on the banks of the River Anton”, with “an extensive lawned beer garden on the river bank”.
According to the council, the sale would cover the beer garden the pub already operates under licence from Test Valley, the former Age Concern and café building, and a small area of land behind the former café. The statutory notice covers only the open-space element, which is what triggers the objection procedure.
What the council says
Councillor Phil North, the leader of Test Valley Borough Council, said the proposal would “bring new life to an important part of Andover town centre” and “help secure the future of a historic building that has stood empty for some time”.
He also addressed the land directly. “I know some people will have questions about the land involved, but it’s important to be clear that these proposals include protections to ensure the space remains attractive,” he said. “In fact, our wider plans for the area will increase the amount of public open space available.”
The council has not published what those protections are. The plan identifying the land is not on the council’s website either: the notice says a copy “may be inspected at the reception desk” of Beech Hurst on Weyhill Road, or requested by email from legal@testvalley.gov.uk.
The wider plans are real enough. The council is building a new theatre in the town centre and has said it is creating “a spectacular new riverside park at Western Avenue”, a short walk from Town Mills.
The same land was in play three years ago
The council’s planning register records an application in 2023 for a change of use of land “to be used for external seating and tables for consumption of food and drink by the general public”. The site is named on the register as Town Mills Pocket Park, Bridge Street.
The applicant was the council itself. In an email on the file, a Test Valley property surveyor described the proposal as up to four picnic-style wooden tables “on the open space land adjacent to the Riverside Café”, to be maintained by council services. The council’s own planning policy officer raised no objection.
The application, reference 23/00891/FULLN, was withdrawn on 17 May 2023. The register gives no reason.
The 2026 notice does not use the name Town Mills Pocket Park, so we cannot say the parcels are identical to that 2023 site. What the register does establish is that the council has treated riverside land at Town Mills as a park within the last three years. A search of the planning register for “Town Mills” returns no application later than 2023, so no scheme for the pub’s expansion has yet been submitted for planning permission.
What it means for you
If you use the green space behind the Town Mills, this is the only formal chance to say so. The statutory objection period is the mechanism, not a planning application, and it closes on Friday.
- Objections must be in writing and addressed to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, Test Valley Borough Council, Beech Hurst, Weyhill Road, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 3AJ, or emailed to legal@testvalley.gov.uk.
- They must be received by 4 September 2026.
- Ask for the plan first. The parcels are defined by a drawing that is not published online. Request it from the same email address, or see it at the Beech Hurst reception desk.
- The council must consider objections, but it is not obliged to abandon the sale because of them.
The land sits between the pub and the river, in the part of town centre that the council is rebuilding around the new theatre. Our Andover planning news page tracks the schemes that are changing it, and roadworks and travel covers the road changes that go with them.
Sources
- Test Valley Borough Council, Notice of Disposal of Open Space under section 123(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972, dated 14 August 2026, signed K. Dunn, Head of Legal and Democratic Services, published in the Andover Advertiser and carried on the Public Notice Portal, for the two parcels, their areas, the “held as public open space” description, the objection address and the 4 September deadline.
- Local Government Act 1972, section 123 for the two consecutive weeks advertising requirement in subsection (2A) and the removal of the public trust in subsection (2B).
- Test Valley Borough Council, “Proposal backs investment in historic Town Mills site and town centre future”, 25 August 2026 for the buyer, the description of what the sale covers and Councillor North’s quotes.
- Companies House, Wadworth and Company Limited (00030177) for the incorporation date, registered office and business activities.
- Wadworth, Town Mills, Andover for the pub’s address, its position on the River Anton and its lawned riverside beer garden.
- Test Valley Borough Council planning register, application 23/00891/FULLN, Town Mills Pocket Park, Bridge Street: the summary tab for the withdrawn decision of 17 May 2023, the documents tab for the applicant’s email describing four picnic tables and for the planning policy consultation response.
- Test Valley Borough Council, “New agreement paves way for brighter future for Andover town centre”, 3 June 2026 for the theatre and the Western Avenue riverside park.
Have your say