After a 14 month planning roller-coaster, campaigners in Battersea are jubilant over Wandsworth Council's agreement to register the Castle in Battersea High Street as an Asset of Community Value under the Localism Act. This is the first ACV registration in the borough.

This means campaigners have the right to bid for what was, until its closure on New Year's Eve, Battersea's most popular pub. The Supporters committee will be considering the range of options available to us and will keep you updated along the way. The campaign's objective all along has been the retention of a pub use on the site.

Last year the developers were forced to withdraw one planning application after 800 objections to their first plans were sent to Wandsworth Council by local residents. A second application was refused. Developer Languard Investments who own the site and secured planning consent for its demolition last year after the 10 month tussle with local residents who want the pub to stay as it is, have placed the Castle on the market with a price tag of £2.25m, having paid sellers Young's Brewery just £1.1m in 2011. The scheme proposed to replace the existing Castle which was built in 1965 for Young's by specialist pub architects William Ingram Son & Archer, is for a replacement pub on the ground floor legally protected by a planning condition, with 9 flats above. The sale is being managed by Chris Long on 020 8874 1122.

Local MP Jane Ellison who backed the campaign from its launch on January 31st last year, is delighted with the result. Greg Mulholland MP , Chair of the Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, wrote to the council to support the application, and it was fully backed by the local branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Campaigners are grateful to Wandsworth Council and wish to thank the Assets of Community Value Panel led by Gareth Jones for the registration. The Supporters also want to thank every single one who signed the petition- all 900 of you! A celebration rally to thank all Castle Supporters is being planned and information will be provided via the campaign Facebook page "The Castle Pub Battersea" and by email.