High streets and local business are set to benefit from changes
to planning rules, which mean markets can be held more often and
marquees put up in pub and restaurant gardens without the need
for planning permission, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing
and Communities announced today.
The changes to permitted development rights, first introduced
last year as a temporary measure to boost high streets and small
businesses during national restrictions, are being made permanent
following a public consultation.
Pubs, cafes and restaurants will now be able to install gazebos
on their own land without planning permission, helping them to
better make use of their outside space all year round. Councils
will also be able to hold street markets as required without the
need for a planning application, attracting more people to high
streets and town centres and boosting local businesses.
Housing Minister Rt Hon MP said:
The changes we introduced last year supported our town centres
and high streets during national restrictions, making sure
businesses could stay open and helping to instil a sense of
community in our local areas.
Making these measures permanent will help business and
communities to build back better from the pandemic and are just
one part of our vision to transform towns and cities across
England into thriving places to work, visit and live.
Craig Beaumont, Chief of External Affairs at the Federation of
Small Businesses, said:
Today’s announcement is a positive, sensible deregulatory
measure. It permanently removes barriers for small businesses to
do things that we all love in our local areas, and so small firms
will be pleased to see this.
As we look to keep going through the Omicron wave, this will be
something that supports the Spring economic recovery, giving a
boost to firms on the high street, in retail, in pubs and
restaurants, in markets, in small-scale events and in the
weddings industry that have all been affected so deeply by COVID.
Kate Nicholls CEO of UKHospitality said:
Marquees and other structures provided a lifeline for some
businesses during the pandemic, evidencing the value of covered
outdoor spaces to hospitality venues.
Today’s announcement is a really positive move to rid businesses
of an administrative burden and encouraging better use of outdoor
space – for many venues it will expedite future recovery and
growth.
Historic visitor attractions and hospitality businesses operating
in listed buildings will be able to install a gazebo for 120 days
in a 12-month period. This will provide additional flexibility
while minimising the impacts to heritage sites.
The permitted development right allowing councils and health
services to adapt their facilities more easily is being extended
for a further year (until 31 December 2022). The right will
continue to support the response to the pandemic, including
enabling pop-up vaccination centres to support the government’s
booster drive.
Today’s announcement is just one of the ways the government is
supporting local businesses and high streets to build back from
the pandemic, including introducing protections for commercial
tenants and the extension of the streamlined process for pavement
licensing, enabling businesses to continue to provide al fresco
dining.
Further information
The permitted development rights (PDR) introduced in 2020 to 2021
that are now being made permanent following a public
consultation. These measures will apply to England.
1. The Right for markets to be held by or on behalf of
local councils
Originally introduced in June 2020, this PDR allowed markets to
be held by or on behalf of local councils for an unlimited amount
of days, including the provision of moveable structures related
to this use.
This measure, which supported the use of outdoor public spaces
and the reopening of the high street, will now be made permanent.
The right excludes markets on sites designated as Scheduled
Monuments and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
2. Rights for moveable structures in the grounds of pubs,
cafes, restaurants and historic visitor attractions
Pubs, cafes and restaurants will be able to erect a moveable
structure for an unlimited number of days without the need for a
planning application .
Listed pubs, restaurants, cafes and historic visitor attractions
will be able to erect a moveable structure for 120 days in a
12-month period, subject to prior approval by the local council.
This will ensure we protect historic assets whilst also making
best use of their outdoor spaces to operate in.
These rights exclude markets on sites designated as Scheduled
Monuments.
Additional measures apply to all moveable structures to minimise
impacts on surrounding communities, including limits to size,
height and distance to residential boundaries.
These measures, introduced through PDRs, are separate to changes
to pavement licenses introduced last year. Pavement licenses
allow hospitality businesses to place furniture, such as tables
and chairs, on the pavement outside their premises the PDR for
movable structures allows businesses to install marquees in
gardens or outside areas on their own land.
