Councils should make creative use of their powers to protect pubs from closure, a report from the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has urged.
The report found pubs are closing at the rate of 28 a week, despite almost all the 49 councils interviewed saying they considered pubs valued community amenities worthy of protection. Councils can use the National Planning Policy Framework to protect pubs as community assets, but too few do, according to the report.
It called on the Government to close loopholes through which pubs can be converted or demolished and for the removal of permitted development rights so that planning permission would be needed before a pub could be converted to another use.
A number of councils including Babergh, Lewisham and Cambridge had used article 4 directions to achieve this, it noted.
