Living Streets is billed as 'the national charity that stands up for pedestrians' but its latest campaign 'The local joke' is intended to address an issue that would probably be billed more appropriately as standing for local shoppers, residents, businesses, sustainable communities and so on.
I was delighted to come across this campaign, which includes a template letter that you can send to Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities, who is apparently reviewing the planning rules for change of use in buildings such as pubs, banks and building societies.
Please visit the website and make your views known. It's a good idea to personalise the template letter with your own comments, perhaps bringing in the Deptford experience, to make it more forceful.
What's more, tell all your friends.
Meanwhile, as Sue has posted over on Crosswhatfields blog, we have also seen some action by our MP on this issue at last, with Joan proposing legislation to create a separate planning use class for betting shops and enable local councils to consider demand when a new betting shop applies to open.
2 comments:
Joan Ruddock was live on BBC Parliament in the Commons yesterday discussing the impact of betting shops on Deptford High Street and the surrounding area. I only caught the end of it when a Tory started talking about the benefits that these dens have for the horseracing industry.
Joan brought a Ten Minute Rule Bill to parliament a couple of days ago on betting shop licensing - more info at http://crossfields.blogspot.com/2011/07/betting-shops-joans-10-minute-rule-bill.html.
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