To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 24 August 2017.

The Panel was informed that the Lead Member for Planning would bring before Cabinet in August.  It was noted that ‘non immediate’ meant it would not come into effect for 12 months.

The Head of Planning informed the Panel that the report included in the agenda had since been revised and summarised the changes as below:

·         Added in that there were 121 pubs in the Borough.

·         Para 2.6 had been added to and now included that officers would liaise with colleagues at Wandsworth and Hammersmith & Fulham where this work had already been done in order to derive any learning and apply it in the Borough. 

The Chairman invited the speaker, Mark Newcombe, to address the Panel for his allocated three minutes.

Mr Newcombe (Pub Protection Officer in Maidenhead & Chairman of the Craufurd Arms Society) informed the Panel that he supported the motion to progress the non immediate Article 4 Direction to remove the permitted development rights related to pubs.  It was noted that the sole message to asset companies was that the Royal Borough recognises the importance in ensuring the protection of our pubs for generations to come.

Mr Newcombe explained that the addition of the Article 4 Direction would be an important step by the Council in recognizing the valuable contribution that pubs make to the well being of others and the community. 

The Craufurd Arms was Maidenheads first community owned pub, the fiftith in the country, an achievement that we as a Panel should be proud of.  The campaign for real ale will continue to follow the business rate reliefs pubs and a freeze on beer duties, and while we continue to assess pubs as asset community value on a case by case value – without it the Craufurd Arms could’ve been sold to developers. 

Mr Newcombe explained that he felt this would help pubs remain as pubs.  Mark Newcombe thanked the Council for their support and advice received over the last four years and stated that he looked forward to working together in the future to save the Royal Borough’s pubs. 

Councillor Adam Smith commented that he believed the impending legislation (related to the Neighbourhood Planning Act) would be coming into force on the 23 May 2018.   It was noted that if this was to be the case then Councillor Smith was concerned that the Public House Article 4 Directions had three issues:

o   That Article 4 would be gold plating what the Neighbourhood Planning Act was hoping to achieve.

o   It imposes costs.

o   It was indiscriminate and would relate to every pub.

Following the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

·         The Head of Planning explained that that the work on this could be stopped and delayed going to Cabinet if the Panel so wished. 

·         The Head of Planning explained that a planning application would need to be submitted which meant that every application would be looked at on a case by case basis.  

·         Councillor David Hilton stated that the Council was not preventing any landlord from selling their premise but was ensuring that planning approval be sought beforehand.

·         Councillor Leo Walters stated that he fully supported this paper as he felt pubs were very important for social reasons within a community.

·         Councillor Malcolm Beer also stated that he supported this paper and questioned whether the 12 month notice period could be shortened to 6 months.  The Head of Planning explained that it was part of the legislation so must remain as a fixed period of twelve months. 

The Panel agreed that experiences of other Local Authorities should be sought (suggested by Councillor Beer).

The Planning & Housing Overview & Scrutiny Panel unanimously agreed to recommend that Cabinet:

                       i.       Notes the report.

                      ii.       Delegates authority to the Executive Director to progress a non immediate Article 4 Direction in accordance with the legal requirements.