Julian is calling on residents with a pub at the heart of their community to be aware of an important way they can help safeguard its future.
Under the community rights provisions in the Localism Act, residents can come together to ask the local authority to ‘list’ their pub. If the local authority agrees, should the owner wish to sell the asset then the community has six months to come up with a plan and funding in order to try to save it.
The ‘Community Right to Bid’ is supported by the Campaign for Real Ale who have launched their own ‘List your Local Campaign’ website at http://camra.org.uk/listyourlocal.
Julian said:
“Our pubs are not only important national institutions with a special place in our hearts, but contribute to the country both socially and economically. However, the number of pubs listed as assets of community value still represents less than one percent of the country’s pubs.
“I want to raise awareness of the new powers given to communities under the Government’s Localism Act to protect what’s important to where they live and encourage them to come together to list their community pubs so they can be protected for the future.”
More information can be found at http://mycommunityrights.org.uk.