Government Targets Vape Shops and Bookmakers in High Street Revival Plan
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced plans to require new vape shops to obtain planning permission and to give councils stronger powers to block betting shops, as part of a strategy to revive England's high streets.
The Prime Minister said town centres had been 'hollowed out' by decades of decline and that many high streets have become unrecognisable, BBC News reported.
Under the proposals, every new shop selling e-cigarettes or vapes in England would need to apply to its local council for permission to open. The government also plans to tighten the definition of a vape shop, so that businesses cannot sidestep the rules by describing themselves as general convenience stores. Both measures apply in England only.
On gambling, the government plans to scrap a rule known as 'aim to permit'. At present, this rule means councils must approve new betting shops and 24-hour slot machine arcades unless they can meet a high threshold for refusal. Removing it would give local authorities more discretion to say no. That change applies across Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales — and touches on both reserved and devolved responsibilities for gambling regulation.
Separately, the plans require planning permission for new adult gaming centres offering 24-hour access to gambling machines. This measure applies in England only.
The package also extends closure orders for mini-marts and vape shops found to be selling illegal tobacco, from a shorter period to up to twelve months. This applies in England and Wales, and was previously proposed by former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates that at least £1bn of criminal cash is laundered through UK high street stores each year, via businesses connected to fake goods, tax evasion, illegal working and illegal drug supply, BBC News reported. BBC News has previously reported on organised crime on high streets, including shops selling illegal cigarettes and vapes, selling cannabis and cocaine, enabling illegal working and suspected money-laundering.
Burnham said the measures will give councils more power to control what businesses open in town centres.
The announcement builds on a sequence of government statements over the past year. A press release titled 'Communities to seize control over high streets and restore pride', published in September 2025, stated the government was empowering councils in England to say no to new betting shops, vape stores and fake barbers. In May 2026, the government outlined its 'Neighbourhood Guarantee', giving councils new powers to restrict certain shops on the high street, take over empty shops, and use the spaces to run services. In June 2026, the government announced new laws to shut down dodgy vape shops, barbers and nail salons linked to organised crime as part of a nationwide crackdown. Later that month, in a Business in the Community speech on 2 June 2026, the government said there are too often vape shops, bookies and barbers on high streets and noted it had already given councils powers to limit the number of bookies.
The Conservatives and Reform said the proposals would lead to 'more empty' shops, without tax relief for other small businesses, BBC News reported.
The broader context here is a sustained effort to link high street regeneration with organised crime enforcement, a thread running through multiple government communications since autumn 2025. The NCA's £1bn laundering estimate gives the planning reforms a security dimension that goes beyond conventional retail policy. The package also sits across complex devolved boundaries: vape shop planning rules apply in England only, the 'aim to permit' abolition is Great Britain-wide, and closure orders for illicit tobacco extend to England and Wales. For Westminster-watchers, that patchwork will require careful navigation, particularly with Holyrood (the Scottish Parliament) and the Senedd (the Welsh Parliament) pursuing their own retail and public health agendas.
The opposition critique frames the plans as a burden on small businesses without matching tax relief, previewing a likely line of attack at the dispatch box when the enabling legislation is published.
