Planning loopholes put viable local pubs at risk

11-Mar-2014 - Last updated on 11-Mar-2014 at 17:00 GMT

Benner: "The Government needs to close planning loopholes that enable pubs to be demolished or turned into supermarkets etc, without planning permission"

Despite my years of campaigning for real ale and well-run community pubs it still surprises me when I hear equally experienced people in the industry accepting that many pubs (some say thousands) still need to close to ensure a future for those remaining.

I don’t agree with this for a moment. It’s defeatist and smacks of complacency. Thankfully, one of the great things about this industry is the existence of a consumer group such as the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to bring some passion to the table.

CAMRA’s research has shown that people are not willing to travel too far to pubs. So if their local closes they are likely to lose the habit of going to the pub and do something else, like drink wine at home in front of the telly. It’s not a given that they’ll automatically move their custom to another pub farther away.

If you accept this, then CAMRA’s view that every community should have a good pub starts to make sense.

Predatory

I might be a little more accepting of the need for many more pub closures if, in fact, the pubs being closed were truly unviable, but all too often this is not the case.

Pubs are being closed so owners can realise the value of the property and because our weak planning laws fail to protect them from predatory developers out to make a fast buck by destroying a community amenity and turning it into housing.

The thing that really sticks in my throat, though, is that so many pubs are being lost to supermarkets. CAMRA revealed last month that research shows over 200 pubs have fallen beneath the supermarket axe over the past two years. The most prolific pub converter was Tesco, having turned 110 pubs into Tesco Metros.

This is a ridiculous situation. No right-minded person can argue that a supermarket brings the same amenity to people as a pub and it is not always the case that pubs lost in this way are truly unviable.

Fair process

Despite this, local communities have no say in this process because pubs and shops (as well as betting shops and pay-day loan stores) sit in the same planning use class. So, if someone thinks they can make more money out of a pub building as a shop than as a pub, there are no planning barriers to stop them. Quite often the first local people hear about conversions is when they are boarded up or there is a planning application to change the signage.

There needs to be a fair process so people can have a say in the future of their local areas and facilities such as pubs.

The Government needs to close planning loopholes that enable pubs to be demolished or turned into supermarkets etc, without planning permission.

This won’t mean that genuinely unviable pubs will stay open, but it will mean that many viable pubs are not lost for the wrong reasons.

Mike Benner is chief executive of CAMRA