Andy Burnham will give councils fresh powers to curb the opening of new vape and betting shops, as part of a plan to rejuvenate “hollowed out” high streets. High streets are the “beating heart of local communities”, he said as he vowed to reverse years of decline, promising local councils would be “given the powers they need to rein in unwanted shops and bring town centres back to life”.

The government will revoke an “outdated” provision within the Gambling Act that pushes councils towards approving new betting shops, scrapping the ‘aim to permit’ rule. New planning permission requirements will apply to vape shops, with tighter definitions to prevent bypassing rules. The number of vape shops has climbed from 262 in 2015 to 3,776 last year, while adult gaming centres slipped from 1,610 to 1,502, according to Green Street data.

The British Gambling Commission rejected the suggestion that betting shops were spreading unchecked as “simply wrong”, noting numbers have fallen by over a third since 2019 with around 3,000 shops closed. Tom Ironside of the British Retail Consortium welcomed tools to tackle rogue operators but warned the “biggest barrier to success remains the outdated business rates system”.