Independent consumer association Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has called upon its members to protect their local pubs in the UK, where closures are occurring at a rate of 29 per week.
Tom Stainer of CAMRA is urging people to nominate their local pub as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), which would give it protection from being demolished or converted without planning permission.
As reported in The Drinks Business, Stainer went on the say: "When a pub is nominated as an ACV it automatically receives planning protection meaning it is no longer a soft target to would-be developers looking to quickly purchase and convert or demolish the pub – which in some instances has literally happened overnight.”
CAMRA claim that 29 pubs close in the UK every week, and it hopes to reduce this number by giving protected status to some 3,000 pubs in by the end of 2016.
Stainer added that making pubs protected is essential to their survival and is easy to enact: "You can either nominate as an unincorporated group of 21 local people, as a Parish Council, or in connection with another local group including a CAMRA Branch."
An ACV means a proprietor must inform the local authority if she or he wishes to sell, after which the community group is given six months to gather funds to purchase the asset.
