THE problem with running a business is all the red tape.

Jumping through hoops, filling in forms and mountains of paperwork.

The Friends of The Kings Head are starting to find this out.

After the pub closed last year the community rallied around in a remarkable way.

People got together and decided they were not going to allow another village pub be turned into houses and have the heart of the community ripped out without even trying to save it.

A campaign began and hundreds of people got involved, including pledging cash to raise the £350,000 needed.

It was a pleasure to report on the success on these pages.

Some work was needed, and more than spit and polish, to get the pub ready for the August bank holiday.

People were willing to help but those running it hadn’t bargained on another obstacle, planning permission.

The thing is you cannot just work on a property, particularly when it is listed and protected.

It would be easy to cast Braintree Council as killjoys, as pantomime villains but what is it supposed to do?

You cannot ignore the rules.

The Friends of The Kings Head have gracefully accepted it.

Yes, it is a blow the opening has been pushed back a few months.

Yes, it is another challenge to overcome.

But there has been no whining or wringing of fingers, they are just getting on with it.

We need planning permission, ok lets submit an application.

We need to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds, ok then we will try.

The community spirit is remarkable but not surprising.

The best thing you can have in a community is people who care about where they live.

And people across the Halstead district really do.

This is not the only community pub project.

Add the charity events, community groups, volunteers and charities and you have an area where people don’t cross over the road, don’t bury their heads in smartphones and don’t just talk about helping, or dispense advice and platitudes over social media.

Instead you have an area where people help each other, they take action to make the community better.

And it is the action not the obstacles which really matters