All shops will be allowed to offer ‘click and collect’ services for people to collect their parcels from next month. Ministers say allowing online shoppers to pick up their purchases at local shops, rather than have them delivered at home, will give a boost to the high street. Retailers will no longer have to apply for planning permission – which costs £195 per application– and fill in reams of paperwork before being allowed to offer the service from April 15. Online boost: All shops in the UK will be allowed to offer ‘click and collect’ services for people to collect their parcels from next month . The UK is the biggest user of ‘click and collect’ services in the world - and use is expected to double in the next three years. But planning minister Brandon Lewis said high streets do not have to lose out, because online shopping can bring people into town centres. Many people who are at work all day - and know they will miss the postman – can choose to have parcels delivered to their local shop where they can collect them at a convenient time. Mr 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. Ministers say allowing online shoppers to collect at local shops will give a boost to the high street . ‘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.’ There was a boom in Christmas shopping via click and collect this year – with John Lewis saying half its customers picked up parcels in store rather than having them posted to their homes in December. Supermarkets and department stores are already using the service, and some allow ebay and Amazon customers to pick up their purchases instore. Ministers also want to make it easier for a bank or estate agent to change use, so it can become a restaurant, cinema or gym without the owners going through undue costs and paperwork.
Shops won't have to apply for planning permission for 'click and collect'
Ministers say the service will give a boost to the British high street .