All retailers can install click-and-collect after law changes

Any retailer wanting to install click-and-collect facilities in store will be able to do so from next month without having to gain planning permission.

The government has announced that from April 15, retailers wishing to install click-and-collect services will be able to do so without the cost and bureaucracy of getting planning permission, which currently costs around 195 pounds and involves hours of paperwork by store bosses.

Ministers say the move has been designed to encourage more shoppers to the high street by enabling them to shop online and collect their purchases in store as part of a wider package put forward to boost the high street.

Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said: “Far from threatening the high street, online shopping offers a new opportunity. How we shop is changing radically and I want to help our high streets thrive from online competition.

“These measures will mean even more retailers can offer ‘click and collect’ services, encouraging shoppers to visit their businesses and pick up their purchases at a time that suits them.”

The UK is the world’s biggest user of click-and-collect services, and this use is expected to double within three years, by 2018.

Lewis added: “It’s just one of a range of measures we’re taking to boost the Great British high street, encourage shoppers to the town centre and get shops to grow and thrive.”

Click-and-collect planning law changes aimed at boosting high street

The wider package of measures also includes a feasibility study that will be conducted for a one-stop-shop offering advice to local retailers, councils and trading groups on how to compete on the digital high street. The study will be led by Google’s UK sales director Peter Fitzgerald and will look at the technology, training, advice, skills and infrastructure that smaller traders need to adapt to the new way people shop and use their town centres.

High streets minister Penny Mordaunt added: “We know digital is the way forward for our high streets and initiatives like the digital index will help traders and businesses to compete more effectively.

“High streets contribute billions of pounds to the economy and the government is committed to supporting them as part of our long-term economic plan to create jobs and boost local communities.”

Images: Amazon click-and-collect lockers