Knowsley Council Leader Graham Morgan has welcomed the Government’s announcements regarding new measures it is putting in place to support local authorities and communities to have greater power to shape their own high streets. Specifically, the Government is keen to give local authorities and local people a say over what type of businesses can open in their town centres and introduce tougher powers for police and Council to crack down on rogue traders.
Cllr Graham Morgan, Leader of Knowsley Council said: “Any measure that gives more power and influence to local councils and local people is something we really welcome here in Knowsley.
“Our high streets are the beating heart of our local communities. They are places where people shop, work, meet and spend time and they play a vital role in the local economy too. We know how important they are to residents and we often share their frustrations in having really limited powers sometimes to influence private development or the type of shops that open in privately owned premises. It has, and continues to be a real battle so I hope these new measures will give us an opportunity to have a bigger influence and create high streets we can all be proud of.”
The new measures include closing planning loopholes, requiring planning permission for vape shops and giving more power to the Police and local authorities to shut down rogue traders. The Government has also pledged to scrap the outdated “Aim to Permit” rules that currently restrict the ability of councils to refuse new betting shops where there is a strong local concern.
Cllr Morgan added: “We have very real experience of some of these issues here in Knowsley. Back in 2021 we received an application for a 24-hour gaming shop in Huyton Village. We rejected the application on the grounds of the potential harm to our community – which already had the highest rates of gambling per head of population in the UK. However, the applicant took our decision to the Planning Inspectorate. Thankfully our position was upheld but despite our clear position on this the same company (under a different name) came back to us the following year with another application for an adult gaming centre in Huyton. And so the process hard to start again. We had to jump through hoops and expend time and resources to block the application. It shouldn’t be this hard when there is a real risk to our community and where we know it will only hinder the future success of our high streets.”
The Council will await further information on the timescales and detail behind this announcement.