The government has set out a package of measures giving councils greater control over what opens on Britain’s high streets, targeting vape shops, betting shops and gambling arcades as part of a wider effort to tackle town centre decline. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said high streets had been “hollowed out” over recent decades, leaving many unrecognisable to the communities that grew up around them. The announcement follows sustained reporting by the BBC that has linked some high street businesses, including mini-marts and vape shops, to organised crime, illegal tobacco sales, drug dealing, illegal working and suspected money laundering. The definition of a “vape shop” will be tightened, closing a loophole that has allowed some retailers to sidestep the rules by registering as general convenience stores. Across Great Britain, the “aim to permit” rule, which has limited councils’ ability to refuse new betting shops and 24-hour slot machine venues, will be scrapped.