RESIDENTS are putting up a fight to save a village pub from being developed into new homes.

A campaign has been launched by West Tilbury residents to save the village pub, The King’s Head, The Green, West Tilbury.

The group is hoping to raise enough cash in the next three months to buy the pub from property developers and continue more than 250 years of trading.

The group is currently having a survey completed at the pub to find out what it is worth but it was once valued at more than £300,000.

It is understood that Tamarisk Road Development Limited currently owns the building.

The pub was closed in April 2016 and The Thurrock Gazette also understands that the pub has been a Grade Two listed building since the 1980s.

Thurrock Council approved an Asset of Community Value application on the pub in December 2016.

In July 2016 the developer applied for planning permission to build six new homes with parking at the site but the application was later withdrawn.

The campaign group has started a private company limited, called the West Tilbury Community Pub Ltd.

Peter Adams, a director of the company, said: “We are appealing to all those who wish to help us retain the King’s Head as a thriving social hub and a key as - set within the West Tilbury Conservation Area to contact us.

“We have already received funding pledges from friends in Thurrock and further afield, and also generous support from other organisations and groups as well as individuals.

“The ‘Save the King’s Head’ campaign is just beginning.”

The next step for the group is to complete a business plan and a financial plan.

This would enable the pub to be run as a thriving business.

The Thurrock Gazette contacted Tamarisk Road Development Limited for a comment.