Several convenience store chains have taken to redesigning their stores in a way that sees them block up the entire storefront with opaque plastic – making it impossible to see through the window. The store is turning its back on the street in effect.
They would not get planning permission to erect a comparably sized visual barrier to the front of the premises.Yet the effect is the same.
This is a blight and it is destroying our shopping streets piecemeal.
Is it beyond planning control?