Dear Dr. Leek,

A new and very serious threat to pubs through proposed changes to the NPPF

Thank you for publishing your important and ground-breaking recent analysis of factors impacting pub closures, ‘Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They Were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?’.

We congratulate you on such an important and timely piece of work. The Campaign for Pubs is a grassroots campaign group and you can read our own mission statement here.

Your analysis shows what those of us that enjoy pubs instinctively know – a healthy urban pub culture works best with a cluster of pubs providing for a diverse customer base.

We wanted to write to you to make sure you aware of a potential change to planning legislation in England, that would go against that conclusion and make it harder for communities to protect viable and wanted pubs – and much easier for owners/developers to close and redevelop them.