‘A depressing failure to care about the interests of local communities which threatens to consign England’s towns to more monotony.’ 

This is the verdict of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) [1] to the provisional report of the Competition Commission [2] on the future of supermarkets published today, Wednesday.

‘This report is obsessed with the question of choice between monotonously similar brands of supermarket [3] while failing to see that such a narrow view closes many more options off than it opens,’ said Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy at CPRE.

The Competition Commission says some welcome things.  It recognises the essential role of the planning system in promoting ‘the orderly growth and development of existing town centres and the provision of services in a pleasant and widely accessible environment’. [4]  But it fails to lend clear support to the crucial ‘needs test’ which gives local communities the democratic option of deciding how many supermarkets they want in their towns.

CPRE also welcomes the further consultation which the Commission is planning and will play an active part in that process.

‘What is clear is that smaller shops and businesses and hard pressed suppliers count for little in the Commission’s analysis. [5] Rather, we are offered a bleak prospect of yet more ruthless price wars for food which undermine farmers’ livelihoods and yet more land-hungry superstores in sprawling, car-dependent suburbs. It is vital that the Commission pulls back from endorsing this sort of future.’  Tom Oliver concluded.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

2. The Competition Commission published a Provisional Findings Report: Market Investigation into the Supply of Groceries in the UK, today, Wednesday 31 October.

3. The report observes that [the planning system] may unintentionally hold back expansion as ‘grocery retailers are not able to open a new larger grocery store in any location of their choice’. The report also observes that there has been no slow down in the growth of larger stores over 2,200 m2 (paragraph. 6.40, p182).

4. Commission report paragraph 25, p12.

5. The Commission’s report observes in paragraph 6 of its document that:

b) The planning regime (in particular, PPS6 in England, SPP8 in Scotland, PPS5 in Northern Ireland and MIPPS 02/2005 in Wales), and the manner in which the planning regime is applied by Local Planning Authorities, acts as a barrier to entry or expansion in a significant number of local markets:
(i) by limiting construction of new larger grocery stores on out-of-centre or edge-of-centre sites; …