Temporary legislation allowing outdoor markets and marquees will be made “permanent”, it has been announced.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said the move would give tourism and hospitality businesses greater control over how they run their business in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The report comes after temporary legislation – known as permitted development rights – was introduced last year, allowing pubs, cafes, and restaurants to install gazebos on their own land without planning permission for an unlimited number of days – empowering them to make use of their outdoor space “all year round”.
The legislation also enables councils to hold street markets without planning permission (excluding sites designated as Scheduled Monuments and Sites of Special Scientific Interest), attracting a greater number of people to high streets and town centres.
Historic visitor attractions and hospitality businesses operating in listed buildings, meanwhile, have been allowed to install a gazebo for up to 120 days in any 12-month period.
The temporary rules were set to end next year, but following a public consultation, they will now be made permanent.
Commenting on the move, Craig Beaumont, Chief of External Affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Today’s announcement is a positive, sensible deregulatory measure. It permanently removes barriers for small businesses to do things that we all love in our local areas, and so small firms will be pleased to see this.
“As we look to keep going through the Omicron wave, this will be something that supports the Spring economic recovery, giving a boost to firms on the high street, in retail, in pubs and restaurants, in markets, in small-scale events and in the weddings industry that have all been affected so deeply by COVID.”
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, added: “Marquees and other structures provided a lifeline for some businesses during the pandemic, evidencing the value of covered outdoor spaces to hospitality venues.”
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