The new National Licensing Policy Framework will aim to streamline and standardise the process for securing planning permission and licences, and ‘cut the cost, complexity and time it takes to open and operate hospitality venues’.
This includes reforms to support operators who want to convert disused shops into hospitality venues and protect long-standing pubs, clubs, and music venues from noise complaints by new developments.
The latter will be accomplished by the introduction of an ‘Agent of Change’ principle that will compel developers to soundproof properties if they choose to build near existing hospitality venues.
New dedicated ‘hospitality zones’ will also be introduced where permissions for alfresco dining, street parties and extended opening hours will be fast-tracked.
“This Government has a plan to replace shuttered up shops with vibrant places to socialise turning them into thriving cafés or busy bars, which supports local jobs and gives people a place to get together and catch up over a beer or a coffee,” says Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
“Red tape has stood in the way of people’s business ideas for too long. Today we’re slashing those barriers to giving small business owners the freedom to flourish.
“From faster café openings to easier alfresco dining, our Plan for Change will put the buzz back into our town centres and money back into the pockets of local entrepreneurs, because when small businesses thrive, communities come alive.”
UKHospitality chair Kate Nicholls welcomes the plans, calling them ‘positive and encouraging’, but adds that they will not offset the cost pressures facing the industry.
“We strongly welcome these proposals to cut red tape and make it easier to open and operate hospitality venues, create jobs and grow the economy,” she says.
“Measures like streamlined licensing, hospitality zones, and protections for existing venues are positive steps which we have been pushing for some time.
“We know that hospitality is the key to reinvigorate our vital high streets, breathe life into neighbourhoods and support local communities and this is a welcome first step towards unlocking that.
“But positive and encouraging as these measures certainly are, they can’t on their own offset the immediate and mounting cost pressures facing hospitality businesses which threaten to tax out of existence the businesses and jobs that today’s announcement seeks to support.
“Let’s hope that this is just the start of a bold, long-term plan for the high streets and hospitality, with reforms implemented swiftly and the promise of permanent lower business rates delivered in full at the next Budget to secure these new opportunities for all.”
Earlier this year, the Government launched a scheme granting the Mayor of London new powers to review and overturn blocked licensing applications in areas of ‘strategic importance’ for the night-time economy.
The powers, which could mean more alfresco dining and later opening hours for pubs, clubs and restaurants in the capital, could be rolled to other mayors across England if the pilot proves successful.