CAMRA aims to put 300 pubs on list to prove they are a community asset

Listing a pub as an ‘asset of community value’ (ACV) means that, if the pub were to go on the market, a community group would have six months to find the money to put a bid in to buy it.

Speaking at its Pubs Protection Summit, which was held in London’s City Hall last week, CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner said: “This is a massive step forward in the battle to protect pubs, and CAMRA set itself a target this year alone of working to get 300 pubs on those lists across the country.”

Benner also encouraged campaigners to push for ‘Article 4 directions’, which are made by councils, to prevent pubs from being converted into supermarkets. They remove permitted development rights.

He urged the Government to produce some guidance to overcome objections about the risks of compensation that councils have.

“The Government is saying you could use what’s known as Article 4 directions to prevent viable pubs being converted into supermarkets simply by removing the permitted development rights,” he said. “I understand that there are some issues and lots of misunderstanding about that use but it can be used, and it’s there as a tool to be used.

“CAMRA is encouraging the Government to produce proper guidance to help overcome some of the objections that exist in councils about the fear and risks of compensation brought on by developers.”

Benner reiterated that the Government should act to close off the planning loophole that allows pubs to be demolished without planning permission.

He added: “How can it be that anyone can reasonably say that a pub should be in the same use class as a shop, betting shop or a pay-day loan shop?

“They provide a completely different community to our society.”

Benner said this would mean that every application for change of use would have to go through planning permission, which he believes “is a perfectly reasonable thing to request”.