Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
12
Aug
Harrogate business group gives cautious welcome to PM's vape and betting shop crackdown
A Harrogate business organisation has cautiously welcomed the Prime Minister's plans to give local councils the power to crack down on betting and vape shops.
Announcing the legislation yesterday (Tuesday, August 11), Andy Burnham said it would help to reverse the decline that has left town centres "unrecognisable".
Under the plans, new vape shops will require planning permission and councils will get stronger powers to block new betting shops
Martin Mann, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, told the Stray Ferret:
Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce represents a wide range of businesses across Harrogate and the surrounding district, and we understand the frustration many people feel at seeing high streets dominated by vape shops and barbershop premises rather than the mix of retail and services a thriving town centre needs.
We’d support any measure that gives local communities and elected councillors a genuine say over what opens on their high street, provided it’s implemented in a proportionate way that doesn’t create unnecessary red tape for legitimate small businesses trying to do the right thing.
The Conservatives and Reform UK have opposed the policy, claiming high business rates are killing Britain's high streets, not vape and betting shops.
Mr Mann expressed wider concerns for small businesses:
The bigger issue for districts like ours isn’t just which shops we keep out, it’s what fills the gap. Blocking a vape shop only helps the high street if there’s investment and support to bring in the independent retailers, workspace and community uses people actually want to see.
He suggested the government shouldn't just be trying to control which businesses make up our high streets, but should also work to make sure that retail units are occupied at all. He said:
A unit given over to affordable co-working or incubator space, the kind we lost when Co-Lab at Springfield House closed, would do more for the long-term health of our high streets than an empty shopfront ever could. That’s the conversation we’d like councils to be having alongside these new powers.
1