Restriction of permitted development rights for pubs

On 26 January 2015, Community Pubs Minister Kris Hopkins and Communities Minister Stephen Williams announced changes to the laws protecting pubs (Ref DCLG Press release: Coalition ministers change the law to protect the Great British pub). This is intended to stop community pubs from being demolished or converted to a different uses against the will of local people.

Policies already introduced to help protect pubs include:

• Community Rights: A set of powers which can help local communities save local shops, pubs, libraries, parks and football grounds, by influencing what is built in a local area.
• The Community Right to Bid: This gives community groups the chance to bid to buy community buildings and facilities. Communities can nominate any local building or land as an ‘asset of community value’ and then, if it comes up for sale, they have 6 months to raise the funds to buy it. According to the Campaign for Real Ale, more than 600 pubs have so far been listed as community assets.

The new announcement proposes bringing forward additional secondary legislation so that in England the listing of a pub as an asset of community value will trigger temporary removal of permitted development rights for the change of use or demolition of that pub.

This will mean that where a pub is listed as an asset of community value, a planning application will be required for change of use or demolition. The planning process will then give local people the chance to comment on the application, and will enable the local planning authority to determine the application in accordance with its local plan, any neighbourhood plan, and national planning policy. The local planning authority may take the listing into account as a material consideration when determining the planning application.

Hopkins said, “Aside from being part of the social and cultural fabric of our nation, pubs also provide thousands of jobs and boost the economy by £21 billion a year… This change in the law will provide even greater protection for local pubs and give communities even more of a say in their preservation.”

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• Article 4 direction.
• Change of use class.
• Community right to bid.
• Community right to build.
• Demolition.
• Localism Act.
• National planning policy framework.
• Neighbourhood planning.
• Permitted development
• Planning application.

[edit] External references

• Press release: Coalition ministers change the law to protect the Great British pub. 26 January 2015.