Supermarket chain Lidl has claimed a rival is exploiting the planning system by initiating spurious objections to its plans for new outlets.<\/p>\n
The German retailer<\/a> urged the Government<\/a> in a private letter to introduce reforms to remove \u201cbottlenecks\u201d \u2013 similar to Government measures that speed up large public infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n In a letter to Minister for Housing and Local Government James Browne<\/a>, Lidl Ireland chief executive Robert Ryan said as a grocery retail business it was heavily reliant on the planning system to reach customers by developing its store network. <\/p>\n He said the company planned to open up to 35 new supermarkets and a new distribution centre as part of a \u20ac600 million investment over the next five years.<\/p>\n Ryan warned that the current planning obstacles were \u201cmaking our investment commitment challenging to deliver within the planned time frame\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lengthy and often contested planning process is a clear inhibitor to our, and undoubtedly others across the industrial sector, ability to service communities and deliver on our investment plans,\u201d Ryan said in letter released under the Freedom of Information Act. <\/p>\n \u201cThe protracted timelines associated with obtaining final planning approval \u2013 even after a local authority and An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la<\/a> grant permission \u2013 significantly delay our ability to proceed. <\/p>\n \u201cWe find that the current system is exploited, sometimes for anticompetitive purposes through spurious objections, which needlessly extend the development life cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n In his letter to the Minister, sent in January, Ryan said Lidl was facing two judicial review actions in the courts challenging plans for new stores in Galway which had been approved by An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la. <\/p>\n He pointed out that these challenges were being taken by a rival retailer.<\/p>\n \u201cThese actions deliberately exploit a legislative loophole in the current planning laws enabling anticompetitive challenges which significantly delay and jeopardise important local developments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe inability to gain certainty and timely final permission for commercially-zoned land is stifling competition, slowing job creation and delaying necessary community investment. <\/p>\n \u201cThese delays directly negatively impact local communities by denying them the benefits that new Lidl stores bring to the communities in which we operate,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n