Vol. 407 No. 1
254 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment his views on whether the present planning laws should be amended to require planning permission to be obtained where it is intended to extend the opening hours of a shop beyond midnight; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Planning permission is required where there is a material change in the use of any land or structure, not constituting exempted development, and there are provisions in the Planning Acts for determining any questions that may arise in the application of this provision to particular cases. In a limited number of cases, hours of operation are restricted by planning conditions. I do not consider that it is necessary, for reasons of proper planning and development, to amend the law so that all extensions beyond midnight of shops' opening hours would be subject to planning permission.
