Vape and specialist retail in a protected frontage

A vape shop is retail. Under the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 as amended in 2020, the retail sale of goods other than hot food falls in Class E(a), so a vape shop frontage policy question usually starts from the position that no planning permission is needed at all. A move between uses inside Class E is not development, which means a frontage protection policy has nothing to attach to unless something else in the scheme requires an application.

That is the single most useful thing to establish before writing to the council, and plenty of occupiers pay for a planning application they did not need.

Why frontage policies exist

Local plans designate primary and secondary shopping frontages to keep an active retail core intact. The concern behind them is a street where the units at ground level stop selling things to passers-by, the windows go dead and footfall drains away, taking the viable shops with it.

Policies express that in a few recognisable ways: a requirement that ground floor units in a primary frontage remain in retail use, a limit on the proportion of non-retail uses within a defined length of frontage, a cap on the number of a particular use within a given distance, and design controls on shopfronts and signage. Those policies were written when the use classes made each of those changes a planning matter.

The 2020 amendment to the Use Classes Order changed the ground beneath them. By putting shops, financial and professional services, cafes, offices, light industry, clinics, nurseries and indoor sport into a single Class E, it took a large set of frontage changes outside planning control altogether.

Whether the use is retail for policy purposes

A shop selling vapes, e-liquids and accessories is selling goods, so it sits in Class E(a) in the same way as a card shop. The same is true of most specialist retail: a tattoo studio is not retail and is sui generis, a hairdresser is sui generis, a pharmacy is E(e) or E(a) depending on how it operates, and a shop with a small seating area for consumption on the premises may drift towards E(b).

So the question is always what the unit's lawful use currently is, not what the new occupier calls itself. A unit last used as a hot food takeaway is sui generis, and the move to retail is a change of use that needs either planning permission or a permitted development right. Part 3 of the GPDO 2015 contains a right allowing change from a betting office, payday loan shop or hot food takeaway to Class E, with conditions attached, so check the current text of that Part before applying.

When the frontage policy can actually bite

Four situations, in rough order of frequency.

1. The lawful use is outside Class E, so the change of use itself needs permission and the frontage policy applies to it.
2. The unit is new floorspace in a scheme being determined, where the policy applies to the proposed use mix.
3. The shopfront is being altered in a way that amounts to development, so the design policies apply even though the use does not need permission.
4. An article 4 direction has removed a relevant permitted development right in that frontage, which some authorities have made to control changes out of retail.

Outside those, a Class E to Class E move proceeds without an application. Record the lawful use with evidence, keep the previous occupier's details and any planning history, and if the position is marginal, apply for a certificate of lawfulness under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 rather than relying on an email from a duty officer. Our note on indoor golf and simulator venues in vacant retail works through the same analysis for a use that sits in a different part of Class E.

Primary and secondary frontage designations

Where a policy does apply, the designation matters. Primary frontages carry the strictest retail protection, often with a numerical limit on non-retail frontage length. Secondary frontages allow a wider mix, and locations outside the defined centre are usually assessed on amenity and highway grounds rather than on retail protection.

Find the designation on the policies map rather than guessing from the character of the street. A parade that looks peripheral is sometimes inside the primary frontage, and a unit on a corner can straddle a boundary. Then read the policy text for the measurement method, because "within 100m of frontage" and "within any continuous run of five units" produce different answers on the same street.

Clustering and vacancy arguments

Clustering policies limit the concentration of particular uses. Where they are drafted to catch "specialist retail" or named uses, a vape shop can be caught even though it is in Class E, provided the change itself needs permission.

The case against a clustering objection rests on evidence rather than assertion. What works is the count: how many units of the relevant type exist within the measured distance, with addresses and a plan, and whether the proposal would take the total above the policy threshold. What also works is vacancy evidence, including the marketing history of the unit, the period it has stood empty, the asking rent and the enquiries received.

Illustrative example: a unit last used as a hot food takeaway in a secondary frontage, vacant for 14 months, with a policy limiting non-retail uses to a stated proportion of the frontage. Returning the unit to retail reduces the non-retail proportion, which supports the application rather than conflicting with it. The clustering policy names hot food takeaways and betting offices but not specialist retail, so it does not apply. That case is won on the policy text, not on design.

Shopfronts, window displays and signage

Alterations to a shopfront usually amount to development and need permission, and in a conservation area the threshold for what matters is lower. Replacing a timber stallriser and a recessed entrance with a flush aluminium frontage is the change officers resist most.

Signage is separate again, controlled through advertisement consent under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007. Internally illuminated box signs and projecting signs commonly need consent, and the authority considers amenity and public safety only.

Window displays raise a point specific to age restricted products. Restrictions on the advertising of nicotine inhaling products sit in product and trading standards legislation rather than in planning, and they are enforced by trading standards, so a planning officer cannot require an obscured window and a trading standards officer can take a view on the display. But design policies can resist fully obscured or vinyl covered glazing, on the grounds of dead frontage and loss of natural surveillance, and that is the planning route to much the same outcome.

Hours and management

Opening hours are conditioned where permission is needed and cannot be conditioned where it is not. For a retail unit in a shopping frontage, hours are rarely contentious unless the unit sits below flats or the proposal includes late evening trading.

Where the unit is in a mixed use building, deal with servicing, waste storage and any plant. A chiller or air conditioning condenser on a rear elevation is the item most likely to generate an objection from a flat above, and it is assessed under the industrial and commercial sound standard rather than as part of the retail use.

Documents that answer the policy

A proportionate submission for a change of use into retail in a protected frontage is short. A Planning Statement addressing the frontage policy, the clustering policy and the vacancy evidence does most of the work, supported by a frontage plan with a unit by unit use survey, the marketing history, and existing and proposed shopfront drawings where alterations are proposed. A Retail Impact Assessment is only engaged by larger retail floorspace outside a centre, not by a single unit inside one, as our note on cash and carry to trade counter and the retail tests explains.

You can see which supporting documents your unit is likely to need by entering the postcode on PlanScope.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Use class questions turn on the lawful use of the specific unit, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it, and confirm the current text of the Use Classes Order and the GPDO.

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