Call for Protection for Cambridge Community Pubs

CambridgePPF Call for planning protection for Cambridge Community Pubs.

Cambridge Past, Present & Future has written to Clare Blair, Executive Cambridge City Councillor for Climate Change & Growth, asking that community Public Houses in Cambridge be offered the same planning protection as other Community Facilities in Cambridge and that they also be subject to a business 'viability test' before any change of use or redevelopment is permitted.

A planning 'viability test' is already in place for Public Houses located in rural and local centres in both South Cambridgeshire and East Cambridgeshire.

Cambridge PPF Chairman Robin Pellew OBE commented:

"A good local pub is an asset to its area and community. We feel that this part of our culture and heritage is under threat and is worthy of protection. It is unfortunate that we are losing local community pubs where people meet and talk while at the same time seeing the creation of larger and more impersonal bars in central areas of our cities and towns."

For the full text of the letter sent 16th June 2010 - please click here.

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Cambridge News:

Published: 21/06/2010 07:45 - Updated: 21/06/2010 08:47

Conservationists want to protect at-risk pubs

Chris Havergal

Conservation experts want Cambridge pubs to get more protection from developers.

Permission for The Jubilee on Catharine Street to be flattened was given on Thursday and several other historic drinking holes are threatened with demolition or conversion to residential use.

Now Cambridge Past, Present & Future has called for city inns to be given the same special status as taverns in the surrounding rural districts.

In both south and east Cambridgeshire, pubs are classed as community facilities and there are policies which say they should not be lost if there will be a serious impact on the surrounding area.

There are also requirements for developers who want to knock down a pub to carry out a viability test to see if it could have a future in its existing form.

Pubs are not classed as community facilities under Cambridge’s planning rules but the charity believes this should change, particularly outside the city centre.

Robin Pellew, the group’s chairman, said: “A good local pub is an asset to its area and community.

“We feel this part of our culture and heritage is under threat and is worthy of protection. It is unfortunate that we are losing local community pubs where people meet and talk while at the same time seeing the creation of larger and more impersonal bars in central areas of our cities and towns.”

Cllr Clare Blair, Cambridge City Council’s growth chief, said pubs could only be given protection if a strong file of evidence of their value could be put together.

She said: “We recognise the concern there is about the loss of pubs within any context.

“The current planning policy in Cambridge doesn’t include pubs as community facilities and in order to change that we will need to look carefully at this issue.

“There is a difference between the large number of pubs in a small area of the city and pubs in outlying areas, specifically in villages.”

On Thursday the council’s west/central area committee will discuss plans to convert the Hat and Feathers in Barton Road into six flats.