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Open Letter to our Local Elected Representatives.

Writer's picture: CPCGCPCG

Open Letter to John Howell M.P.

John Howell M.P.

House of Commons.

London.

SW1A 0AA


CC-David Rouane –Leader South Oxon District Council.

CC-Henley Standard


Campaign for a Law change regarding the sale of pubs.

Dear Mr Howell

You have no doubt seen the terrible events that occurred at the Crooked House pub in the West Midlands.

This appears to have touched a nerve in communities who have lost or are likely to lose their local pub to development, normally residential.

We at Crays Pond and the surrounding area have been campaigning to get our pub, The White Lion, reopened as a community pub with other community aspects attached to it.

We took the opportunity to have the property listed as an asset of community value (ACV) and have managed to keep that in place despite legal challenges by the owner.

We have made offers to buy to the owner, based on valuations, but with no response.

Currently the law favours developers that 'wait out' ACV status and over time, sometimes a long time, try to get land use changed from a Pub to residential use, hoping that councils will agree just to get the problem of a deteriorating property solved.


The Campaign for Pubs (Email: campaign@campaignforpubs.org.uk.) has written to the Prime Minister an open letter. This asks for a change in the law regarding certain pubs as stated in the extract below


We need a simple change to planning law so that no historic pub can be sold for alternative use, converted or demolished until it has been properly marketed for at least a year at the independently valued price as a pub.

“This would stop the cynical destruction of pubs and allow licensees, local breweries, entrepreneurs and communities to buy our historic pubs and make a success of them.”


We all know that Breweries and 'PubCos' systematically run down some of their Pub stock to declare them unviable, in order to sell them as an 'Investment Opportunity' for potential development.

The value of such a property is usually greater than as a Pub, so the change in the law would make community pubs much more of a attractive opportunity for community groups to buy, tenant and run.


An article in CNN summed it up when it wrote


“The UK needs to do a better job to protect pubs – pubs are community centres in rural areas – if you take that away, communities disintegrate.”


Currently MPs local to the Crooked House are supporting the proposed change in the Law (Marco Longhi, Conservative MP for Dudley North and South Staffordshire Conservative MP Sir Gavin Williamson).


We urge our Lawmakers, Local Politicians and Officials to grasp this issue, fully support this proposal and work to achieve this significant law change.


This will support those local communities, who wish to do so, in bringing their community Pubs back to life, for the benefit of the communities that you, as our representatives, serve.



Save The White Lion-Crays Pond as a community asset

Crays Pond Community Group



For the Full Open Letter to the Prime Minister from Campaign for Pubs use the Link below



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