Lizzi Collinge

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and Dent is a prime example of a place where visitors come. My constituency has so many fantastic places for visitors, whether it is the front at Morecambe, which is getting Eden Project Morecambe, beautiful Arnside, which I mentioned earlier, Milnthorpe, Kirkby Lonsdale, the whole Lune valley, or the Yorkshire Dales national park. The businesses that serve our communities all year round also serve visitors. They are fantastic spokespeople for our area, and they also show the quality of our local produce, which is important. I want to know that the provisions in the proposed statutory register would create some meaningful protection, and not add another layer of bureaucracy. I want pubs to be live assets—I spoke earlier about the fact that buildings will change over time. Our heritage and communities are not static things, and from an architectural and heritage point of view it is important that their character is not lost. If something is in its original state, but that original state is mouldering, that is not a good thing, and when preserving those features it is important that any upgrade or renovations are done sympathetically and are in keeping. I recently visited the Royal Oak in Burton in my constituency. It has done a fantastic renovation that is very sympathetic to the original building. I want us to keep our pubs open and running, to preserve those historical buildings for future generations, and to leave it possible for them to have new life when the owners so choose.