Coventry City Council
Shopfronts and shutters in Coventry
Coventry’s adopted guidance says permission for external shutters will not normally be granted on listed or conservation-area shops — and spells out exactly what an exception has to look like.
- Planning authority
- Coventry City Council
- Planning system
- England
- Main document
- Adopted 26 June 2014
- Status
- Adopted supplementary planning document
- Main retail streets
- Broadgate, Smithford Way, Lower Precinct, Cathedral Lanes
- Our repairs
- Inside our 100-mile repair radius
Coventry’s shopfront guidance was adopted on 26 June 2014 and was written for conservation areas and historic buildings. A city-wide replacement was being prepared in council papers in early 2026; until it is adopted, the 2014 document is the one on the council’s list of adopted SPDs.
Coventry has a kind of building most cities do not: timber-framed houses, some of them moved to Spon Street from elsewhere in the city, where the ground floor never had a conventional shopfront. The guidance treats those differently, and so should anyone pricing work on them.
Shutters and security
Every external shutter and grille needs planning permission.
Design Guidance on Shopfronts for Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings, section 5For listed and locally listed buildings and for properties in conservation areas, that permission will not normally be granted. Listed buildings also need listed building consent.
Design Guidance on Shopfronts for Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings, section 5An exception has to be fully concealed: the box recessed behind the fascia and below the lintel, the runners hidden inside the pilasters, an open lattice with at least 50% transparency, and the metal colour-coated to match the shopfront.
Design Guidance on Shopfronts for Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings, section 5Where an external shutter would damage the building, the alternatives are a shutter behind the window or demountable shutters taken down for the trading day.
Design Guidance on Shopfronts for Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings, section 5
Historic shopfronts
On timber-framed buildings with no traditional shopfront, the ground floor is a large glazed window in the frame; signage is limited to a bracket sign at first-floor level and modest window vinyl, and any shutter has to be internal.
Design Guidance on Shopfronts for Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings
Sources
- Design Guidance on Shopfronts for Conservation Areas and Historic BuildingsAdopted 26 June 2014 · Adopted supplementary planning document · read on 9 October 2026
- Coventry Local Plan — adopted supplementary planning documentsList as published · Council guidance · read on 9 October 2026
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