Why do councils approve so many vape shops on the high street?

[JoyousOpalLemur]

Am I the only one completely baffled by this? I walked down my high street yesterday and another new vape (and sweets) shop has opened. There are now four vape shops that have opened in the last two years! They all seem to be permanently empty.

Why are councils granting planning permission for these shops?

One of the lead stories on the BBC last week was about how at least half of vape shops are linked to organised crime, particularly people and drug smuggling, and money laundering. Apparently many of the vapes they sell are also illegal and many sell tobacco to children.

It's not just the vape shops, three Turkish barbers have opened in the last decade (usually half empty), and three nail bars (to be fair, they tend to be quite busy) since Covid, which also have well known links to laundering the money made from people smuggling.

If councils are so keen on regeneration and local economies, why approve change-of-use for businesses that research shows are disproportionately tied to serious crime? Legitimate businesses are struggling, while these cash-heavy operations seem to get a free pass.

With also several young male Uber Eats riders parked down the high street, it doesn't feel a particularly safe space anymore.

Do councils even consider the crime angle when approving these applications, or is it just about filling empty units at any cost?

TIA for any insights or experiences.

Because they are paid off
A lot of corruption in local councils.

As long as the shops already have commercial shop planning permission previously they can open barbers or vape shops with no extra permissions.

They approve a class of use, not individual retail

Do they need approval for it if it was already a shop before? It’s just a different type of retail isn’t it

Sounds like my local high st in a pretty affluent area!!

There’s a few in our town, they were already shops before so they’re still the same class so as far as I’m aware they wouldn’t have needed any council involvement because they’re not changing to a different use

They don’t need specific planning permission as it wouldn’t be considered a change of use.

They don't approve as has been noted.

This would be a fairly simple law change to require it. Also licence as with pubs, and only allow someone to hold one licence who must be living local to the premises.

I'd have the same with betting shops, and allow the council to refuse any more above a certain level in an area.

Do the councils not have any powers to say no then? Even if they know there is a high risk that these shops are going to be fronts for criminal activity?

Because they're desperate to fill shops rather than having them lie empty and neighbourhoods just don't need a many shops as they used to

Barbers and nail places proliferate because they are services that can't be replaced by an online version. Also more blokes have high maintenance styles like fades which need redoing regularly.

I don't think it's anything to do with the council. It's classed as retail.
It's the landlords who are also happy to turn a blind eye to money laundering. As long as their unit is filled they don't care It's drug / fake cigarette / trafficking money paying it.

I report them (and the "mini-marts") via crimestoppers and HMRC.

They don’t get a chance to say no because they’re not asked for permission. Consent is only required if they’re changing use eg from residential to retail. They have powers to shut them down after if they’re found to be doing anything illegal but this usually needs police/court involvement

The vape shops ARE empty though.

In the last two years I've seen a combined total of two customers in the four shops.

Most men need to have their hair cut, so barbers make some sense, but I only know two people who vape and they both buy everything online.

So many barbers everywhere!
Why?
Did men never get haircuts until 10 years ago.

As pp said, if as a potential new tenant you aren't trying to change the commercial usage rating then the council have nothing to do with it.

It's up to the ethics of the individual landlords if they accept your business as a tenant or not.

As has been said they don't need approval. The premises are already approved for retail.
Our council prosecuted an illegal tobacco gang. It took specialist officers years to collect all the evidence and get it to court. Who is paying for these officers?
Years of underfunding and staff cuts mean there aren't enough officers to investigate each shop. As for all this talk of being paid off, there is no mechanism in modern ages to be able to take a bribe so stop talking nonsense..

The planning system doesn’t work like that. It’s based on use classes. If the site has approval for retail, that’s all it needs. The general retail use classes (Ea) is for shops selling goods to the public, apart from hot food. So it could be selling greetings cards, football boots, vapes, books, anything, and no permissions needed.

Investigating retail as a front for crime is for the police, not the local authority. Your question should be posed to them instead.

Another change to the law that could be an option would be that whoever lets the shop is responsible in part should it turn out to be a money laundering front. The simple penalty that the property is confiscated under proceeds of crime legislation.

Oh yeah, no one uses them but for councils I suppose at least it's not a shuttered up shopfront. I agree it's hardly better to have an unused shop.

One round the corner from us has kept going for years despite lack of custom. They have one of those digital signs so keep changing what they do alongside the vapes - initially a cafe, then they were selling some make of cosmetics and their latest wheeze is being a Korean/Asian food store

Our local borough council have refused loads of these shops from opening lately. They are refusing any new takeaways also. They even made one move back to its original premises a few weeks back as there was no need to move it (3 shops away). I live in a very small village (ie only a small supermarket a couple of pubs and a little market). And most of the shops are barbers, takeaways and vape shops. All owned by the same person. They cause no issue are always busy and the employees bend over backwards to help people. But our council is very much on the ball when they try to open more shops. So I do think it’s either a corrupt council or a different shop type/resident ratio to be allowing them to appear everywhere.

I think that it's sad that towns are judged on the number of these shops on the high street. Nobody wants them amd everyone knows they are money laundering fronts. The same people responsible for drugs and the vile country lines exploitation of children, trafficked sex workers etc. Yet we literally welcome their money being cleaned on our high streets. There is something wrong with that.

As for all this talk of being paid off, there is no mechanism in modern ages to be able to take a bribe
Oh there is. Corruption is absolutely rife among the police force, for example.

This

And this

A licensing system for vape shops may be on its way. This is from the Local Government Association.

"The Tobacco and Vapes Bill gives the government the ability to introduce a new licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco products, herbal smoking products, cigarette papers, vapes, and nicotine products. The scheme will be introduced in regulations and will cover online and in person retailers. Once the scheme is introduced, selling these products not in accordance with the correct licences and their accompanying conditions could result in criminal prosecution or civil financial penalties. Further details are awaited from the Government.
...
Once the scheme is introduced, a personal licence will be required to sell relevant products at retail, exposure [sic] these products for retail sale, or possess them for the purpose of retail sale. A premises licence will be required to use or permit the use of premises to store these products for the purpose of their retail sale, expose them for retail sale, or supply them to a retail customer. Details will be consulted on ahead of the introduction of regulations."