Pubs (Planning Policy)

Justin Tomlinson Excerpts

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Westminster Hall

[Greg Mulholland]

I absolutely agree. That is essential if the right to buy is not to appear tokenistic. I stress, however, that the issue is not only about demolition, and I urge the Minister to stop it being okay to turn the Red Lion or the White Swan into a Tesco, just because a deal is cooked up between a distant unaccountable pub company and Tesco headquarters. That cannot be right, because the community, never mind the small business person, has no say over whether it wants the pub to continue.

There is a separate use class order, A4, for pubs, bars and other licensed premises, but it is currently perfectly allowable to change that to one of various other use class orders—A1, A2 or A3, I think—and the Government could, very simply, stop those conversions without planning permission. I am not talking about when a pub is no longer viable or wanted and it might be a good idea to turn it into a solicitors office. All the Government have to do is to say that there are no conversions from A4 to anything without planning permission being obtained through the normal process. If the pub is no longer viable or wanted, it will change use within a reasonable and normal time period, as with all planning applications, but the community should at least have the right to comment.

I briefly wish to mention the wonderful work of Pub is the Hub and the Plunkett Foundation. No one suggests that it is possible for the Government to provide huge amounts of money to back up the community right-to-buy scheme, but there has to be better and clearer Government advice about the realities of setting up a community co-operative and putting a bid together.

I would be interested if the Minister told us what progress the asset transfer unit has made on coming up with a genuine package of guidance and support for communities that wish to do that.

My big idea, which I have shared with the Minister, is a moratorium. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I have taken the Government’s idea for a moratorium and extended it. It would be possible and desirable to have a moratorium before any permanent change of use or demolition. Six months would be a reasonable period and would allow us to see whether other companies or individuals wanted to buy the pub. It is a scandal that there are often companies knocking at the door that want to take on the pub, but they are simply not allowed to do so.

As the save the pub group has consistently said since its formation, two things should happen in this six-month period. First, there needs to be a genuine, independent community consultation, which must be carried out by the local authority, as the planning authority. Some developers put surveys through people’s doors with leading questions—we are all politicians, so we know about leading questions—and the answers are presented as the community’s view. People are asked, “Do you think Otley needs more care homes?” or “Do you think old people should have a good quality of life?”, and when they say yes, the developer says, “There you go. Everyone wants a care home instead of a pub.” There must be genuine consultation to establish the will of the local community and the need for the pub.

There should also be a proper, independent viability test of the pub. Some councils have the courage to carry out such tests, although it is mainly rural councils at the moment. In the case of The Summercross, the developers’ agents prepared a huge glossy document and presented it to the plans panel, saying that it proved that the pub was not viable. How can someone prove that a pub is not viable when it was trading profitably in the years before? That is absolutely absurd. There must be an independent viability study, which should, again, be carried out by the local authority, as the planning authority. There is also the CAMRA viability study, so a model exists, and I hope the Minister will consider suggesting it in guidance to local authorities when they put their policies in place. In that respect, I hope that Leeds city council and others will finally get round to doing that, so that 40% of councils are no longer without policies on pubs.

My moratorium could work in two ways. The Minister and I have discussed this, and I realise that he has views about how the moratorium could work, but I want to give him two other suggestions. The six-month moratorium could be part of the forthcoming national planning policy strategy, which could suggest what should happen in the case of conversions from A3. It could also be covered in supplementary guidance to councils that are putting together supplementary planning policies.

Another suggestion that I have already raised with the Minister, and which I know would take some work, would be to look at whether we need a separate definition of a community pub and whether such a definition is possible. We would need a proper study to see whether we could separate community pubs, which clearly have a community function, from a lot of bars and nightclubs, which do not. It would be exciting if that was possible, because it could lead to a different rateable value. As one of my colleagues said, community pubs sometimes, but often do not, get sufficient payback from their community work and the community role that they play.

[Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon) (Con)]

I am delighted to support that point. All too often, the community pubs my hon. Friend is referring to are the last standing community facility in the local area. All too often when I am in an area, I will see the former post office, the former dairy and the former school house. It is right to separate community pubs from the rest of the trade because they have an additional role to play in the market.

[Greg Mulholland]

I thank my hon. Friend. I hope that he will help me, CAMRA and the Institute for Public Policy Research, which is looking at this issue, to see whether that would be possible. Such a step would make it easier in planning law to do some of the things that we want. I hope the Minister and his team will seriously consider that point and that it will be part of the dialogue we have.

Even without such a change, it is possible, as I said, to require any change of use from A4 or any demolition to involve a moratorium that includes the three things I mentioned: allowing the pub to continue where there is a genuine business and making sure, if not requiring, that the genuine, independent market value be considered; holding community consultation; and carrying out a viability test.

Finally on the suggestions from me and the save the pub group, let me return to pub listings. We still have a few wonderful pub interiors, and I am glad to say that there are a number in London, which it is worth going to see. They are important to tourists, who will walk into a pub such as The Mitre and realise that such things are unique to this country. We should be proud of that.

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[Greg Mulholland]

I thank the hon. Gentleman. We work closely together, because the all-party save the pub group works closely with the all-party beer group, of which he is the vice-chairman, and we look forward to continuing with that. He is right to say that viability is a key issue. He is right to say that some pubs are opening; but sometimes that is used as an excuse to close other pubs that owners or pub companies want to dispose of because of their huge indebtedness, some of which they need to claw back to please their shareholders and foreign creditors.

The issue that the hon. Gentleman raised is important, but there was a case in Otley where a brand new pub opened—a wonderful little free house called the Old Cock—because it was not possible for Lee and Linda, who run it, to get one of the pubs owned by the pub company. They had to set a pub up in what used to be a café, and now offer a wonderful range of independent beers that they could not afford to buy through the pub company. That is why I say to the Minister that there is no free market or way to do that. The tragedy is that The Woolpack, which I have already mentioned, is a mere 50 yards from the Old Cock. If the system worked, Lee and Linda would have bought it, and would be operating that free house from its wonderful historic building. Instead, it has closed and is being converted. The Old Cock is a brand new pub. All I am saying is that we need to assess viability and first ask communities whether pubs are still wanted. That would answer all the problems that we agree exist.

As to my questions to the Minister, I want to nail him down—not today—on whether he agrees with, and whether he and the Government will commit to, the principle that no profitable and wanted pub should be permanently closed against the wish of the community, without that community having any chance of a say on its future. To me, that is the overriding fundamental principle that we must get to as a localist and decentralising Government—and, hopefully, a pro-pub Government. I also ask the Minister to provide an assurance today, if he can, that the Government are committed to extending planning control to cover the demolition of pubs, as he has suggested he is minded to do. Will he also seriously consider doing the obvious thing and making an A4 use class order subject to planning permission for any change of use? That would make a big difference and stop conversions to Tescos, betting shops, restaurants and cafés with no community right to consult.

Will the Minister consider that the forthcoming national policy framework should include not only the idea that retaining pubs is important—it must do that, and I am sure he will ensure that it does—but the idea of a six-month moratorium? That could say, as guidance rather than diktat, that there should be a six-month period to allow other people to buy the pub and allow for the viability test and the independent community consultation. Will he seriously consider strengthening the right to buy, at the very least to prevent an owner unreasonably refusing a bid from a community? Indeed, in my opinion that should also cover a bid from a small brewery such as Wharfebank brewery in my constituency, which has just taken on its first pub. Perhaps the Minister will consider that and work with us to try to strengthen it and make it meaningful, so that communities feel it is worth putting bids together.

[Justin Tomlinson]

When new schools are built, local authorities must put competition arrangements in place to allow different organisations to bid. Those that bid are given huge amounts of advice and support, to turn enthusiasm into a practical and credible bid. I should be interested to see what support could be offered to those in the community who want to defend the community pub, to turn their enthusiasm towards finding the considerable amounts of money and huge commitment that can be needed to make that a realistic dream.

[Mrs Anne Main (in the Chair)]

Order. Before I ask Mr Mulholland to respond to that intervention, I remind the House that we should begin the winding-up speeches at about 3.30. Perhaps I may ask that the hon. Gentleman draw his remarks to a close. If no other hon. Member wants to speak—and no one has indicated a wish to do so—I want to call the shadow Minister at 3.30.

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[Justin Tomlinson]

That can also be the case before a pub has even been built. In new developments—a lot of my constituency is new development—space is allocated in the master plan for a community pub. The developers deliberately do not sell it—as is the case with our local brewery, Arkell’s—and they then try to come back and say that the only demand is for additional housing.

[Robert Neill]

My hon. Friend is right. I shall refer to some of the planning proposals we are seeking to make, which I hope will deal with some of those situations.

The Government are seeking to approach the matter against the background of recognising that there must be a sensible balance and that, of course, it is sometimes legitimate to regulate to protect community interests. However, we are also dealing with businesses that need to be kept viable and remain attractive for investment, so as my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West said, it is important that we deal with the matter in reasonable and proportionate way that does not build in inflexibilities that might discourage people from investing in the public house trades. We must get the balance right and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his contribution to helping us do that. I would rather deal with the matter in a considered way than engage in grandstanding, because there are opportunities that will come to us.

Let me consider some of the points that were raised. It is worth saying that the current national policy—planning policy statement 4—is perhaps not used as fully as it could be. I accept that point, and outside this Chamber I will happily take up with my hon. Friend ways in which we can ensure that local authorities are made aware of their existing scope. For example, PPS4—planning for sustainable economic growth—asks local authorities proactively to plan and promote competitive town centre environments to support shop services and other things that have small-scale economic uses. That can be taken to include public houses. My hon. Friend indicated that some local authorities are doing that, and I applaud them for doing so. Some of the public houses we have referred to might be in conservation areas or might have a particular merit, such as listing and so on. There are other forms of protection.

When determining applications affecting premises such as pubs, current policy also enables local planning authorities to take into account the importance of the facility to the local community or the economic base in the area. However, I acknowledge that that is not doing enough to slow down the attrition rate of pubs. Therefore, we are determined to simplify the system. My hon. Friend is right: the national planning policy framework is the appropriate vehicle for doing that. Since the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, most planning policy has been dictated by guidance rather than through primary legislation, which has tended to be enabling. That is the route we intend to adopt.

We are committed to taking the existing protections that it is appropriate to continue with, simplifying them, amplifying them where appropriate and publishing a comprehensive, single, streamlined national planning policy framework. We are aiming to do that by April 2012. We will start to consult on that later this year, and I very much hope that my hon. Friends and the organisations in their constituencies concerned about the issue of planning and public houses will contribute to the consultation. That will also include planning for community and other leisure facilities. The linkage about encouraging live music, for example, that my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mike Weatherley) referred to, is absolutely right. That is why, separately, the Government are proposing to reform the licensing law to make it easier for live entertainment to take place without some of the bureaucratic licensing requirements, particularly in smaller venues. I hope that that will add to viability, which is an important consideration here.

Two matters are important in relation to the Localism Bill. First, we are introducing neighbourhood planning, which will give neighbourhood communities a greater chance to shape their area in planning terms. Communities will be able to set policies for the development of their area, subject to the constraint that what they say must be in general conformity with the overall strategic policies of the local authority’s development plan, and that it will be subject to the national policy set out in the NPPF I referred to. Within those constraints, communities will be able to say what sort of developments—within reason—are acceptable or not acceptable and where. That is an important tool, and I hope it will enable people to have greater protection.

Such an approach will also give communities greater flexibility in expanding. Sometimes that is right because, for example, there might be a demand for additional housing in a village area. Incremental growth is not easy to achieve under the current planning system, so there is a greater pressure to convert the use of a public house to housing. Our proposals will make it easier for a neighbourhood to expand organically and therefore, I hope, to still keep the public house in existence.