A public meeting to discuss the future of Stevenage’s Fairlands Farmhouse will be held next week, after bids to turn it into a community asset failed.

Two community groups submitted business plans for the derelict Fairlands Farmhouse in Fairlands Valley Park to its owner Stevenage Borough Council, but both proposals – a centre for healthy living and a farm – were rejected.

The council is now in negotiations to sell the Grade II-listed farmhouse to a pub/restaurant operator.

The healthy living centre was the idea of Stevenage resident Chris Oak, who is holding a meeting at St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School on Bedwell Crescent at 6.15pm on Wednesday to discuss the building’s future.

He said: “If you do not want the council to sell off this important building to a pub or restaurant chain, this is a meeting you must attend.

“We will be discussing what we hope to do and how the community can help us.”