Today (11 August 2026), the Government has announced plans to crack down on vape shops and adult gaming centres (venues where there is 24-hour access to gambling machines) in England by requiring planning permission to be granted for new establishments. 

The intention is to accomplish this via amendments to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (UCO 1987) that will have the effect of:

• Removing vape shops from Use Class E (a wide use class that covers most commercial uses) making them sui generis (a use that is not defined in the UCO 1987); and
• Defining adult gaming centres as a sui generis use.

The key effect of this is that sui generis uses do not benefit from flexibility to move between uses that fall within the same use class or from permitted development rights that permit changes of use. This means that for vape shops, it would not usually be possible to move from another commercial use to a sui generis use without planning permission. 

This will give local authorities greater control over the location of vape shops and adult gaming centres by requiring an application for planning permission to be made and approved before an establishment can be opened. 

This announcement has been met with enthusiasm from the Local Government Association who have reacted as follows :

“The LGA has consistently raised that some permitted development rights, which allow uses to change without planning permission, can hollow out high streets and reduce community and democratic oversight of planning decisions.     

Extra powers will help councils in revitalising high streets and shaping their communities, particularly in regulating betting and vaping shops, while also breathing new life into empty premises.”

This is to be coupled with wider reforms to the licensing regime to control the number of adult gaming centres and new powers to close vape shops where illegal tobacco has been sold.

The Government will be consulting on these changes in the coming months with the intention that these reforms will come into force next year. For more information, please get in touch.