Fed up locals want to ‘take back control’ of high street overrun with barbers and nail shops

A motion supported by Redcar and Cleveland councillors expressed concern about a “growing concentration” of barbers, nail shops and beauty salons in the area and called for a change in the law

Fed up local councillors have called for changes to planning laws to ‘take back control’ of a high street overrun with barbers and nail shops.

A motion supported by Redcar and Cleveland councillors expressed concern about a “growing concentration” of barbers, nail shops and beauty salons in the area. Councillor David Taylor, who successfully proposed the motion, said of 47 retail units in his ward of Eston, 25 were of this kind and included in the category ‘Class E’ in planning terms.

Reform of national planning guidance in 2020 merged a wide range of commercial uses into this category, removing the need for planning permission for many new ventures.

Cllr Taylor said at the time it was a sensible measure during the covid-19 pandemic to support the economic survival of businesses wishing to adapt. But the result had been an undermining of the variety and character of many high street environments, which required a balanced mix of places for the public to visit to survive and thrive.

A number of councillors who lent their backing to the motion referenced fears of criminality and organised gangs infiltrating the high street, TeesideLive reports.

Earlier this year the National Crime Agency said businesses such as barber shops, nail bars and vape shops were often fronts for a whole range of criminality, including money laundering, drug trafficking and even modern slavery. It launched a three-week crackdown involving 19 different police forces and regional crime units, raiding premises and making dozens of arrests, as well as seizing illegal goods.

Cllr Taylor said his motion was not an attack on local businesses nor to restrict opportunities, but about “ensuring a better balance and also returning planning decisions to where they belong – with local authorities and the community, not private landlords acting without local input or accountability”.

He said: “Without local control we risk losing the very variety and vibrancy that make our town centres places worth visiting and investing in.”

The council will write to the Government to ask that consideration be given to removing barber shops, nail bars and beauty salons from the Class E use legislation. Local MPs will also be asked to raise the matter with the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Council leader Alec Brown called the motion “very un-Conservative” since it sought to interfere with the free market, but said his Labour group would support it. Conservative councillor Paul Salvin said what was being discussed was a country-wide issue and about “taking back some control of our high streets”. The motion was carried unanimously.

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