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England to expand protections to stop pub conversions to housing
Developers seeking to convert a pub will need to show there is no reasonable prospect of keeping it as a going concern, including evidence the site was marketed for sale for at least a year.
Angela Rayner, England's housing secretary, said all pubs will get protection from being converted into housing or office use under a planning policy framework due this week. The change is aimed at curbing pub closures as the government prepares a shake-up of planning laws intended to support building 1.5 million homes by the end of the parliament, according to the Guardian Business.
The government had been consulting on a narrower approach that would have protected only the last pub in a community area, but ministers expanded the policy after warnings from hospitality campaigners that thousands of pubs could still be lost. Under the updated rules, developers will have to prove there is no reasonable prospect of keeping a pub as a going concern.
Rayner said councils must also weigh whether losing a pub would deprive a community of a place for people to gather. The policy requires evidence the pub was marketed for sale for at least a year.
The Guardian Business cited Campaign for Real Ale figures showing 794 pubs have closed this year, with 82 demolished or converted. Hospitality leaders have attributed closures to factors including the employer national insurance increase, the higher minimum wage, food price inflation, and high business rates.