HEADLINE: Paul Welcomes Government Move To Keep Dodgy Shops Shut For Longer
Dodgy vape shops and mini-marts face closure for up to a year under a Home Office crackdown triggered by Rochdale's MP Paul Waugh, and the town's trading standards officers. The shops are often a front for organised crime, selling illegal vapes, cigarettes and drug equipment.
Under current law they can only face closure orders of three months, leading many to set up again within weeks.
But under a crackdown ordered by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood after pressure from Labour MPs and a BBC investigation, the Government has drafted plans to force them to be shut down for up to 12 months.
The change is designed to fix a problem Rochdale knows well. The council's Trading Standards team, working with Greater Manchester Police through Operation Tetbury, has secured thirteen closure orders across the borough in the past twelve months, shutting down shops selling illegal tobacco, banned vapes and counterfeit goods. Too often, though, a shop closed one week is replaced by another a few doors down soon after. When officers closed one premises on Drake Street, a new shop opened within three days, restocked with illegal tobacco run in from nearby cars and a block of flats.
Rochdale's officers are now among the most respected in the country. The team was recognised at the national Trading Standards Hero Awards last year, and earlier this year one of their own, Dennis Chalmers, was promoted to lead on serious and organised crime for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, the professional body for Trading Standards across the UK. Mr Chalmers also played a central role in the recent BBC investigation into fake shops linked to organised crime.
Paul has also written to Greater Manchester Police to make sure Rochdale gets its fair share of the £30 million behind the new High Street Organised Crime Unit.
Paul will keep working with the new Unit, Rochdale Borough Council, Greater Manchester Police and Ministers to push for the strongest possible powers, to make sure they come with the funding to use them, and to feed in what local officers have learned about how these criminal networks operate.
Paul Waugh MP said:
"This is exactly what we have been asking for, and it is a real win for Rochdale. Only last month I wrote to the Home Secretary calling for closure orders to be extended so we can keep these shops shut for good, and I am delighted the Government is now consulting on doing just that.
"For too long our brilliant Trading Standards officers have been stuck in a game of cat and mouse, closing a dodgy shop one week only to see another open a few doors down the next. Keeping these premises shut for longer can help break that cycle, but the powers will only count if they come with the funding to use them and a plan to bring empty units back into good use rather than leaving them boarded up.
"I could not be prouder of our local team. They have led the country on this, working hand in hand with Greater Manchester Police through Operation Tetbury, and it is no surprise that one of Rochdale's own, Dennis Chalmers, is now helping lead the national effort.
"Rochdale's high street belongs to the families who live here and the honest businesses who play by the rules. With the right powers and the resources to use them, our officers will have a real chance to drive these criminals out for good."
