EFFORTS to protect pubs by ensuring companies have to apply for planning permission before converting them have been unsuccessful.

A cross-party plan to amend the Infrastructure Bill and force supermarket giants to submit an application to the local authority was defeated in the House of Commons when those behind it failed to get enough support and lost by 48 votes.

If successful, the changes would have seen the The Press' Be Vocal For Your Local campaign take a huge stride towards victory, after it set out to give pub goers a fair say on their favourite watering holes.

Campaigners will still be able to apply for an Article 4 Direction (A4D) to be put in place, which will force companies to apply for planning permission, and has already seen success in York when The Punch Bowl was granted an A4D by City of York Council.

Residents can also make attempts to list their pubs as an Asset of Community Value to protect them from being sold off.

Paul Crossman, licensee of York pubs The Swan, The Slip Inn, The Volunteer Arms and The Woolpack, said: "They had a golden opportunity to offer all pubs the planning protection they so desperately need by backing a vital amendment to the Infrastructure Bill proposed by a cross party groups of MP's including Greg Mulholland and backed by CAMRA's Fair Deal For Your Local.

"This morning pubs should simply have the protection they need, but our Government chose instead to leave the vast majority vulnerable to predatory conversions.

Nick Love, of York CAMRA, added: "The 293 MPs who voted against this new legislation have contrived to making something that was simple far more complicated than it needs to be.

"We could see councils now being totally overwhelmed by ACV applications which will give them a totally unnecessary and unforeseen additional workload. It may well may make councils averse to granting pubs ACV status.

"Why MPs couldn’t join the dots and work this out for themselves is beyond me."