To revive the high street, the government is planning to introduce a raft of changes to reduce red tape for hospitality businesses.
Pubs, cafés, restaurants, bars and music venues may no longer be subject to ‘outdated’ planning and licensing rules.
The headline proposed changes include:
- Developers who want to build new properties near existing venues would be told to soundproof buildings
- Make it easier to open bars in disused shops
- Dedicated hospitality zones where requests for al fresco dining and extended hours will be processed more quickly
- ‘Agent of Change’ principle – reduce new developments’ ability to make noise complaints and have licences taken away from pre-existing venues
The high street ‘transformation’ is already underway through the High Street Rental Auction scheme. With these auctions, local authorities can force landlords to rent out properties that have been vacant for over a year to those such as small businesses and community groups. They, in effect, get a ‘right to rent’ empty commercial lots at market prices.
Use Class E is also still in operation, where high street businesses can change use class without planning permission and thus provide more flexibility as to how buildings are used.
These measures come ahead of the government’s Small Business Plan to ‘unlock the full potential’ of UK SMEs. The Plan is due to be announced on July 31.
How have small businesses reacted?
There has been a somewhat mixed reaction, with many of the more negative reactions coming from small businesses themselves.
Keith Budden, managing director at Ensurety, is in two minds. He said: “It’s a fact of life that the high street is changing. Where once there was a wide range of individual stores, the proverbial butcher, baker and candlestick maker, for many the high street is now cafe, barber, cafe, barber, charity shop, estate agent, hairdresser, cafe, nail bar, cafe. The days of the high street butcher are gone, save for the occasional artisan provider. The way people shop has changed.
“With all this in mind, anything that reduces red tape is welcome but I do worry that there is a limited supply of labour willing to work in cafes and bars and, perhaps more importantly, a limited number of punters given the pressure people’s finances are under. In effect, we may be removing empty shops now only to have empty cafes in 18 months’ time.”
Jenny Blyth, owner at Storm in a Teacup Gifts, agrees – saying that more hospitality venues is the last thing the high street needs. “Has Rachel Reeves forgotten the purpose of the high street altogether? It isn’t the hospitality industry that needs to be welcomed back to the high street, it’s the thousands of small businesses who have been forced to shut because of extortionate prices and ridiculous red tape.
“Our high street is packed full of cafes but can I buy a gift for a loved one or visit a butcher? No, of course not. This is just another sign that the current government is blinded to what we need and is instead trying to distract us with something shiny. They are lost, and this isn’t what our dying high street needs.”
Landlords seem to be positive about the news. Kundan Bhaduri, entrepreneur at The Kushman Group, said: “The government’s reform of licensing and planning laws could be the most economically literate decision Labour has made in years. For too long, high streets have sat hollow while small business owners were asked to navigate contradictory rules, snail-paced approvals and fees designed more to deter than enable investment.
“Planning officers treated a pavement table like a threat to national security. Protecting pubs and venues from after-the-fact noise complaints is not just policy, it should be cultural preservation. If you move next to a pub and then complain about noise, you are not a victim—you are the problem. If this new framework delivers what it promises, we may see capital return to the high street.”
Key takeaways
- Proposed changes include making it easier to convert disused shops into hospitality venues and reducing new developments’ ability to make noise complaints against hospitality venues.
- High street transformation has started under the High Street Rental Auction Scheme.
- Use Class E is still in operation, where high street businesses can change commercial property class without planning permission.
- There’s been a negative reaction from the small business community, who want to see more diversity on the high street.
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