More protection for key parts of Malvern Hills communities (From Malvern Gazette)

More protection for key parts of Malvern Hills communities

8:00pm Tuesday 12th February 2013 in News

GREATER protection is being offered to prized community assets such as pubs, scout huts and sports fields in the Malvern Hills.

The Localism Act brought in new legislation allowing local communities to identify land or property of community value and be guaranteed an opportunity to acquire them if the threat of sale or closure arose.

Malvern Hills District Council is being charged with maintaining the list and deciding whether facilities are deemed worthy of inclusion.

Listing protection lasts for a period of five years, during which time the owner cannot sell without informing the council and observing an agreed time period for voluntary or community bodies to submit their own bid.

The council’s executive committee has agreed to press on with the scheme and deputy leader Paul Swinburn said: “A community should have a say as to whether its pub is shut down, whether its sports fields are built on and so on.”