If you love your local pub and want to protect it from demolition or change of use, make sure to list it with your local Council as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). You can nominate as a CAMRA Branch, as an informal group of 21 local people or as a Parish Council.
Please note that our Branch area is covered by both Cheltenham (CBC) and Tewkesbury (TBC) Borough Councils.
If you wish to engage with us to help list your local please email our pubs officer via chair@cheltenhamcamra.org.uk
ADVICE FROM CAMRA HQ:
Whatever form your campaign takes you will need to demonstrate that the pub is valued by the local community, which can easily be done by nominating the pub as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). Ideally this should happen before the pub is even under threat.
Under the Localism Act 2011 you can apply to the Council to have the pub declared an ACV, which means that should the pub later be put up for sale then a community group is entitled to submit a bid, and a six-month moratorium kicks in giving the group time to raise the necessary funds.
Until recently, ACV-listed pubs enjoyed increased protection under the planning system because the ‘permitted development rights’ to demolish them or change their use did not apply to nominated pubs. Happily, these rights have now been withdrawn for all pubs so that reason for pursuing listing no longer applies. However, planning authorities may regard ACV registration as what’s called in the jargon a ‘material consideration’ when considering a planning application.
What ACV status does demonstrate very clearly is that the pub is valued by local people and helps meet their day-to-day needs. Such evidence can be most useful when framing your case for the retention of the pub – because both national and many local planning policies put great store on the importance of retaining valued community facilities.