Tim Crookall has spoken out after it was decided the Waterfall pub in Glen Maye wasn’t special enough to be protected.

The Glenfaba and Peel MHK plans to speak to the owners and set up a meeting with local residents week starting October 25 to talk through concerns and come to a solution.

Mr Crookall said: ’It would be nice if we could all work together to resolve this.’

The former pub, shut seven years ago, had been issued a Building Preservation Notice in June, which protected it from demolition temporarily while it was investigated further.

However, as the Examiner reported on Tuesday, it was announced earlier this week that the building would not be added to the register which meant the planning application to knock it down and replace it with four terraced houses would go through and is currently under appeal.

Since then, many Glen Maye residents have expressed concerns to their MHKs, Mr Crookall and Kate Lord-Brennan.

Mr Crookall continued: ’It came up a lot when we were both canvassing in the area, so there’s obviously a need for something to be done.

’The locals want to do something with it, whether it be a pub or cafe, restaurant or shop, whatever it may be.

’Housing is much needed but it is the very centre of the village and with the car park there it could be a great amenity and could create a bit of employment and solve some issues if there’s a shop or something there again.

’It’s a beautiful and busy spot, especially in the summer.’

When asked why he thought nothing had been done in the seven years since it had shut, Mr Crookall said: ’I think people just hoped that somebody was going to do something with it for the good of the village.

’Nobody was doing anything with it but now all of a sudden they’ve decided to do something with it and try and get their money back, which is understandable, but all of a sudden it’s like "you can’t do that, we don’t want that", so maybe somebody should have been doing something about it in the meantime.’

Ms Lord-Brennan and Mr Crookall released a statement in response to the demands for something to be done.

It said they both wanted to assist in finding ’community-led solutions’ and collect ideas on how to establish a ’greater base of amenities in the village’.