OTLEY’S MP has criticised the government for opposing a change that would have increased planning protection for pubs.
Currently inns can be turned into supermarkets or offices, or demolished, without planning permission — a loophole the Parliamentary Save the Pub group has been campaigning to close.
Group chairman MP Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West) last week helped table a new clause for the Infrastructure Bill that would have ended those permitted development rights.
But the proposal was rejected during Monday’s vote on the Bill.
Mr Mulholland said: “While I welcome a modest step forward in strengthening the tokenistic ‘asset of community value’ scheme, the Department for Communities and Local Government are still passing the buck and heaping unnecessary bureaucracy and cost onto overstretched local authorities.”
*The New Clause 16 was supported by 245 MPs, but opposed by 293.
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