Labour MP Elsie Blundell has welcomed new government plans to give councils and communities greater control over vape shops and other businesses opening on their high streets.
The Heywood and Middleton North MP backed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s latest high street reforms, arguing that communities in her constituency have seen too many businesses that raise concerns locally.
Writing on X, Blundell said:
“There are too many of these dodgy businesses on our high streets – in both Heywood and Middleton.
“Glad our Labour Government under @andyburnham is prioritising this.”
Her comments came as Burnham promoted the Government’s new package with a simple question: “Who is actually asking for more vape shops?”
The Government announced on Tuesday that it wants to give local people and councils a greater say over what opens in town centres, alongside tougher enforcement against illegal activity.
Under the proposals, new vape shops in England will require planning permission rather than being able to open through existing permitted changes of use. Ministers say this will give councils the ability to consider whether another vape shop is appropriate for a particular high street.
The Government is also targeting betting shops and adult gaming centres, while promising stronger action against businesses involved in illegal working, illicit tobacco and vapes, tax evasion and other criminal activity.
The changes follow growing concern about the changing character of town centres. Existing planning rules have allowed premises already within the broad Class E commercial category to switch between a range of uses without necessarily requiring a new planning application — including, in some circumstances, conversion into a vape shop.
Burnham has argued that decades of decline have left many high streets “hollowed out” and that communities should have more influence over what replaces traditional shops and services.
The plans form part of a wider Labour push to regenerate town centres, support legitimate local businesses and strengthen councils’ ability to act where concentrations of particular types of premises are damaging confidence in a high street.
For Blundell, that national agenda has a clear local relevance.
Her intervention puts Heywood and Middleton firmly into the debate, with the Labour MP arguing that residents should have a stronger voice over the businesses operating in their town centres.
The reforms signal a shift towards greater local control, with Burnham’s Government seeking to make it harder for unwanted vape shops and other premises to open without communities and councils having their say.
Further details are available from the BBC.
