Petition Protect Town Centre Diversity - Planning Reform

Give wider planning powers to town councils in order that they are able to preserve the diversity of town centres and avoid Britain becoming a series of clone towns.

I had envisioned this operating in a similar way to conservation areas. Specifically:
- Town councils can designate (with appropriate public consultation) some or all of their town as being protected
- In protected towns all retail businesses planning to locate in the defined area would need to seek planning permission
- Councils would have the power to reject such applications if it was deemed to adversely impact the diversity or chartacter of the town centre eg too many similar stores, one brand dominating, too few independent retailers

As an additional protection, a specific change for all planning areas should be made, such that landlords would have to submit a planning request to change a buildings use use from a public house to a general retailer (which is currently regarded as the same use).