Councillor back village pub plans
Councillors have united to throw their weight behind tougher rules to save village pubs and other rural services.
Councillors have united to throw their weight behind tougher rules to save village pubs and other rural services.
Many communities have lost their local - which is often the hub of the village - so Breckland has introduced a new policy to make it harder for pubs to be turned into houses and for efforts to make the facilities survive.
Development control committee chairman Elizabeth Gould - who lives at Beeston, near Dereham - said the pub had shut and the shop had recently closed.
“I do believe the facilities are most important for people living in villages and I wholeheartedly support the principles.”
Necton councillor Nigel Wilkin said: “A pub is one of the spokes in the wheel. As soon as you lose the pub, you lose the shop and the Post Office and other small businesses and the next thing is that you are a satellite of the nearest town.”
He said in his village the pub was saved from closure and the Co-Op had taken over the shop.
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“The strength is working together.”
Fellow Breckland councillor Roy Kemp said he had been at a recent meeting in Garboldisham, near Diss, about the pub closing and it had been attended by about 150 people.
“I fully endorse the recommendation that pubs should not be turned into building sites.”
David Williams - of Narborough - said he had fought for five years against the closure of the doctors' surgery and members needed to protect services in local communities.
