The proposal is highlighted in Westminster’s City Plan Consultation, which includes a range of new policies for the food, drink, entertainment and tourism industry in the borough.
The proposed policy CM24.1 states: “Public houses will be protected throughout Westminster, except where the unit has been vacant and actively marketed for that use for at least 12 months at a reasonable market price/rent and the council is satisfied that reasonable attempts to find an occupier have been unsuccessful.”
The document adds there are 439 pubs in Westminster, and between 2009 and 2012 only 10 pubs (2.2% of the 2009 total) were lost to change of use. Of these, four went to residential use, one to offices and one as a restaurant. The rest when to mixed uses. However, it states there are indications of “greater interest” in conversions of this kind.
'Critical' measure
Andrew Barry-Purssell, Westminster City Council’s head of spatial and environmental planning, said: “A 12-month grace period could be critical, as it would allow local areas, and the market, to decide if a pub is an important community asset. Westminster is giving neighbourhoods more of a say in local planning policy.”
Its plans follow similar pub protection policies from other London councils, including Hackney, Lewisham, Islington and Camden.
James Watson, pubs preservation officer for the Campaign for Real Ale’s East London and City branch, hailed the fact several London councils are revising local plans to recognise the importance of pubs, but would have preferred to have seen “more robust requirements”.
“Westminster has said pubs should be marketed at a fair rate for 12 months. Cambridge City Council, which has one of the best planning policies for pubs, says two years. I’d like to see developers have to wait three years before we reluctantly accept a change of use.”