Town centre shopping

We believe in a strong town centre and vibrant communities. In fact we clearly have a vested interest in making sure all our towns and villages maintain robust local businesses.

After all, our retail partners are precisely the kind of entrepreneurs who provide services and employment right in the heart of town.

This is why in Ireland, along with hundreds of local businesses, we're campaigning to maintain existing Retail Planning Guidelines that promote healthy competition while at the same time protecting town centres and limit out-of-town retail developments that destroy local businesses.

Those in favour of scrapping the Guidelines suggest more superstores and out-of-town retail developments mean increased competition and lower prices.

But the evidence shows that the Retail Planning Guidelines are no barrier to new entrants nor do they inhibit competition. In fact, since the Guidelines were introduced:

• Aldi has increased from 9 to 39 stores in 5 years - with another 35 planned;
• Dunnes Stores has increased from 68 to 90 stores;
• Lidl from 28 to 79 stores;
• Marks and Spencer from 4 to 13 stores;
• SuperValu from 171 to 180 stores; and
• Tesco from 76 to 95 stores, 16 in the last 12 months alone.

The impact of out-of-town superstores on the high street can be seen elsewhere. In the UK, for example, where there was no cap on retail space between 1997-2002, specialised stores including butchers, bakers, fishmongers, and newsagents selling confectionery; tobacco and newspapers closed at the rate of 50 per week.

To put it plainly we think the retail planning guidelines have saved us from the UK scenario where forty two per cent of small English towns and villages no longer have a shop of any kind.

In Ireland we already have an extremely competitive market and scrapping the Guidelines would in fact reduce consumer choice by putting local stores out of business.

Read:  How to kill off communities by use of superstore in the Irish Times