UKHospitality has released a Placemaking Report, setting out recommendations for government and local authorities to reduce red tape holding hospitality businesses back.
Spanning seven key areas — business rates, development, infrastructure, licensing, planning, rent, and skills — it sets out how restrictive local policies are significantly hindering growth.
The report also includes guidance for hospitality businesses on how to best engage with local authorities, communities, and licensing and planning processes.
For every recommendation, the report details the benefit of implementing proposed solutions and how they can allow hospitality to contribute fully to placemaking.
The report is clear that hospitality’s tax burden — the highest in the economy at 82% of pre-tax profits being paid in business taxes — remains the core issue holding the sector back, and that it must be urgently addressed at the Budget. The recommendations in the report are set out as complementary to fiscal action to reduce hospitality’s tax burden.
The recommendations include:
- Business rates: reform and speed up the appeals process, as well as providing additional resource to deal with increased appeals following the 2026 revaluation.
- Development: legally strengthen the agent of change principle for existing and future developments.
- Infrastructure: align transport and infrastructure investment with hospitality-led regeneration.
- Licensing: implement licensing reform taskforce recommendations in full.
- Planning: introduce a system of presumptive permission, with automatic planning approval if certain criteria are met, as well as introducing a fast-track planning system for both major and minor applications.
- Rent: ensure upwards-only rent review legislation supports sustainable rents and high street regeneration.
- Skills: expand hospitality sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) nationally through collaboration between government, local authorities, colleges, and industry.
“Hospitality is one of Britain’s greatest strengths,” said Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality. “Our sector creates places where people want to live, work, and invest. Put simply, successful places need successful hospitality.
“Yet hospitality’s ability to fulfil its potential is being constrained. Hospitality businesses are facing some of the most significant cost pressures in a generation.
“Rising employment costs, high business rates, energy costs, and an increasing regulatory burden are reducing the capacity of businesses to invest, expand, and create jobs. These challenges must be addressed if hospitality is to continue driving economic growth and regeneration.”
He added: “Hospitality is central to many of the priorities that matter most to government and society — creating jobs, supporting social mobility, revitalising high streets, attracting investment, strengthening communities, and delivering economic growth. The sector has the potential to achieve even more.
“To unlock that potential, we need a policy environment that supports investment, removes unnecessary barriers, and recognises hospitality as essential infrastructure for thriving places.
“By tackling both the cost pressures facing businesses and the regulatory challenges outlined in this report, we can create more vibrant places where people want to live, work and invest.”
