The UK’s outdated town planning laws are blocking fitness studios from boosting physical activity on the country’s high streets, according to the UK boss of Barry’s Bootcamp.

Sandy Macaskill, who is the co-owner of the two Barry’s Bootcamp studios in London, is calling for an overhaul of planning regulations to reflect how fitness businesses have evolved towards a retail model. He says his efforts to acquire a new site for Barry’s Bootcamp have been thwarted by council planners who would rather have a “furniture shop or a mobile phone shop” appear on the high street than a business that encourages the population to get active.

“Fitness studios used to be a hard sell to landlords, as they viewed us more like leisure centres than vibrant retail hubs which drive footfall and add value to buildings, but the success of our business and others like it has helped change this,” Macaskill told Health Club Management.

“But we’ve still got the major hurdle of planning committees frequently blocking applications to convert A1 spaces into fitness studios. It’s as if the 2012 Olympic legacy didn’t even happen – councils are telling everyone to be more active but then they don’t want to see fitness studios on the high street.”

Under England’s planning use classes framework – which hasn’t been updated since 1987 – gyms and leisure centres can only occupy buildings designated under the ‘Class D2’ category, whereas shops retail outlets sit in the far more abundant ‘Class A1’ category of building.

Macaskill says that boutique studios – with their retail offering, juice bars and the fact they sell spaces in class rather than relying on a membership model – have more in common with hairdressers and other A1 classified businesses, than the leisure centres the ‘Class D2’ category was originally created for.

Many big name operators have told Health Club Management in recent months that obtaining suitable properties is one of the biggest barriers to expansion and Macaskill says that he has asked ukactive membership councillor to raise the planning issue on behalf of the industry.

“It’s definitely something that needs to be addressed,” he added. “We’ve won the landlords over in terms of the benefits that fitness businesses can offer. Now it’s time for the government to make good on its calls for us to do more exercise, by supporting the businesses trying to make this happen.”

To read an interview with Barry’s Bootcamp global CEO Joey Gonzalez, from the November/December 2015 issue of Health Club Management, click here.