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Dudley Council approves call to help local pubs survive 'relentless taxation and charges'

Dudley borough pubs could get financial help from the local authority after councillors backed a plan to support their survival.

By Martyn Smith
Published

A meeting of the full council on March 2 approved a Notice of Motion from Cllr Steve Edwards which includes a range of measures including preparing a report for the authority’s cabinet on allowing pubs to be eligible for discretionary rate relief.

The motion was first proposed back in June 2025 but time limits on debates meant it took more than six months to finally be put to a vote.

The motion from Cllr Edwards said: “The hospitality industry is weighed down by relentless taxation and charges, including the government’s recent decisions to cut business rate relief and raise National Insurance contributions, both of which have made a bad situation worse.

“We must use the powers available to us as a devolved local authority to not only protect the remaining pubs we have, but to help independent hospitality businesses grow and thrive.”

Among the other measures approved by councillors were promoting pubs as Assets of Community Value which gives them extra protection from planning applications for change of use or demolition.

Ian Sandall on his feet in a meeting of Dudley Council where he said the loss of a pub was felt 'beyond the building itself'. Picture Martyn Smith/LDRS free for LDRS use
Ian Sandall on his feet in a meeting of Dudley Council where he said the loss of a pub was felt 'beyond the building itself'. Picture Martyn Smith/LDRS free for LDRS use

Councillors accepted an amendment from Cllr Ian Sandall requiring the council lobby the government to scrap permitted development rights for pubs which would mean major changes to pubs needed full planning approval.

Cllr Sandal said: “This is not about preventing change, it is about when a pub is lost it’s through a democratic process, not through automatic right or might of corporations.

“When a valued pub is lost the impact is felt beyond the building itself.”

Another amendment, from Cllr Shaun Keasey, was also accepted which introduced a call from the council to the government to cut VAT for hospitality to ten percent and a ten percent cut on beer duty.

Councillors also voted to accept a notice of Motion from Cllr Caroline Reid requiring the authority to call for guidelines and clear warning signs warning of possible health risks to children from Slush ice drinks containing Glycerol.

Glycerol is added to Slush drinks to stop them freezing solid and has been linked to health problems in children aged up to ten.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) currently advises that children under four should not consume slush drinks containing glycerol and that free refills should not be offered to children under ten.