Planning permission alone won’t stop rogue shops selling illegal vapes - Nick Fletcher

This week’s announcement giving councils greater control over new vape shops recognises what communities, like here in Doncaster and across the country, have known for years. Planning reform is a welcome step, but the core problem isn't just the number of vape shops. It's that so many have become part of wider organised crime networks.

Across Doncaster and towns just like it, rogue retailers are selling illegal vapes alongside illicit tobacco and counterfeit goods, undermining honest shops, putting children at risk and helping to fund wider criminal activity.

Many vape retailers operate responsibly, but a minority are exploiting weak enforcement and profiting from gaps in the system. Yet instead the Government appears more focused on changing what the packaging looks like.

We know rogue premises sell illegal vapes, illicit tobacco and counterfeit goods, often to our children. Some also employ people illegally, evade tax and, in certain cases, launder the proceeds of other criminal activity. These offences can go hand in hand. This hurts every legitimate shop that plays by the rules. It hurts the honest people who work hard to run legitimate businesses, pay their taxes, employ staff legally, buy genuine stock and compete fairly.

Across Doncaster, we can see something changing on our high streets. Shops selling little but vapes seem to be appearing everywhere. It's understandable that local people ask questions. People want proper regulation and tougher action against rogue operators that damage communities and undercut honest traders.

The statistics support what many local people are seeing. City of Doncaster Council says the number of illegal vapes seized has more than doubled. This should tell us two things. Firstly, there's a significant illegal market operating in Doncaster. Secondly, passing new laws is not enough if rogue retailers believe they can continue breaking them without serious consequences.

A Freedom of Information request revealed that the council seized just under 20,000 illegal devices in 2025-26, 103 per cent more than in 2024-25, when just under 10,000 were seized.

This week’s announcement shows ministers recognise the scale of the problem, but planning permission alone won’t stop rogue shops selling illegal vapes once they’re open.

The public can already see the need for action. Recent polling by Whitestone Insight found that 79 per cent support licensing vape retailers, 90 per cent support enforcement against shops trading without a licence, and 93 per cent support permanently banning retailers repeatedly caught selling illegal vapes. People aren't asking for more slogans; they want strong and decisive action.

Licensing legitimate shops might sound mundane, but it has to be the next step, it would give enforcement agencies a clear way to distinguish responsible businesses from rogue operators.

Instead, the Government has turned its attention to measures such as plain packaging and keeping vapes out of sight in shops. These measures may have a role in reducing the number of young people who take up vaping, but they miss the more fundamental problem.

An illegal vape doesn't become safe because the packaging is less attractive. If it contains illegal levels of nicotine, dangerous contaminants or drugs such as Spice, hiding it behind a screen changes absolutely nothing. If anything, it risks making it easier for counterfeit products to imitate legitimate ones.