Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty on local planning authorities to remedy breaches of planning law for unlawful (a) demolition of public houses and (b) conversion of public houses to another use.

The change of use or demolition of a public house requires planning permission.

The government does not collect data on the number of public houses which have unlawfully changed use or have been demolished in Cornwall or England.

We have not made any assessment of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty on local planning authorities to remedy breaches of planning law in relation to such matters. We continue to keep the operation of the current protections for public houses under review.