Plymouth City Council
Shopfronts and shutters in Plymouth
Plymouth’s Development Guidelines SPD says external solid or perforated shutters will normally be resisted, and sets out three alternatives in order of preference.
- Planning authority
- Plymouth City Council
- Planning system
- England
- Main document
- Adopted May 2013
- Status
- Adopted supplementary planning document
- Main retail streets
- New George Street, Cornwall Street, Drake Circus
- Our repairs
- Installation work only
Plymouth’s shopfront guidance is part of its Development Guidelines SPD, first adopted in April 2010 and reviewed in May 2013. It was written to support the former Core Strategy, which has since been replaced by the Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan, so confirm with the council that this section is still applied.
The guidance makes the point that a street of solid shutters gives a hostile appearance at night, and asks for security to be part of the design from the outset.
Shutters and security
- Security (laminated) glass
- Internal shutter grilles, open mesh if feasible
- External open-mesh grilles in some cases
External solid or perforated metal shutters and grilles will normally be resisted.
Development Guidelines Supplementary Planning Document, First Review, para 4.2.31Preferred, in order: laminated security glass; internal retractable shutter grilles, open mesh if feasible; then, in some instances, external open-mesh grilles with the display still visible and the box behind the fascia or recessed flush.
Development Guidelines Supplementary Planning Document, First Review, para 4.2.31Alarms should never be fixed on architectural features such as pilasters or decorative mouldings.
Development Guidelines Supplementary Planning Document, First Review, para 4.2.32
Sources
- Development Guidelines Supplementary Planning Document, First ReviewAdopted May 2013 · Adopted supplementary planning document · read on 9 October 2026
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