The great chicken shop homes boom

Planning rules axed to create housing and free high streets from plague of smelly t akeaways

TAKEAWAY owners are set to be given the right to convert their restaurants into homes without planning permission in a bid to reclaim high streets from an unprecedented growth in fast-food shops.

In a move to rid Britain’s town centres of ‘noisy and smelly’ outlets that are often the scene of anti-social behaviour, Ministers are poised to relax strict planning laws to turn them into residential properties.

Anyone currently wishing to convert one of Britain’s 56,638 hot takeaway retailers such as chicken or kebab shops into a home must first apply to the local council for complex and bureaucratic approval.

But now the High Streets Minister Jake Berry wants to dispense with permitted development laws to bring the premises in line with office buildings and warehouses.

And the radical idea has the backing of think-tank Policy Exchange, who say it will help solve the housing crisis.

They say t akeaway businesses could make far more money by converting the properties and moving businesses out of town as more and more customers order takeaways on mobile phone apps.

The UK has seen a surge in new takeaways as traditional high street shops go under, with more than 4,000 opening since 2014.

But they are deeply unpopular with local residents who complain about odour and noise late into the night.

London has seen a four per cent increase in takeaways, rising to 10,260, while Birmingham has seen an 18 per cent surge t o 1,291 t akeaways. Both Manchester and Bristol have also seen a 17 per cent rise to 925 and 569 takeaways in five years, according to the Centre for Diet and Activity Research at the University of Cambridge.

Mr Berry i s pushing t he conversion idea as part of a package designed to ‘ inject t he free market i nto high street renewal’. And the Rossendale and Darwen MP urged town halls not to hold up the implementation of measures.

He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘These reforms to turn home delivery into homes are part of our initiative to make the high street flexible to change without councils causing undue delay on the process.’

Other measures being considered would see betting shops, payday loan shops and launderettes able to convert into office space without having to applying for permission.

Policy Exchange says the takeaway measure will ‘provide greater flexibility on high streets, leading to fewer vacant buildings and providing more homes for first-time buyers’.

And they argue that with recent developments in home delivery apps such as Deliveroo and Just Eat, hot food takeaways could be located away from residents on to industrial estates without losing business.

The group’s director of policy, Will Heaven, said: ‘Takeaway owners should have the freedom to convert their premises into homes if they so choose.

‘Right now, government gets in the way of something that

‘4,000 new fast-food outlets since 2014’

often makes economic sense and would be welcomed by many local residents.

‘ Wit h f a s t - f o o d del i ver y apps on the rise, the idea of endless l ate- night chicken shops so close to where people live with all their attendant noise and smells, is increasingly outdated.’

He will tell Ministers in his formal suggestion to be submitted tomorrow: ‘ The key point is that this policy would provide greater flexibility on high streets as many up and down the country continue to struggle.

‘If hot food takeaways can be converted into homes more easily, we will begin to see a revival in the sort of mixed-use high streets people love and want.’

The Ministry for Housing’s consultation on high street planning reform closes tomorrow evening, with Ministers preparing to respond officially with new policy proposals within weeks.