Red tape 'will stifle independents'

Friday, 13 February 2009
Convenience retailer Jonathan James has slammed the ever increasing cost of red tape surrounding planning applications, claiming it will "utterly stifle" independent businesses looking to build new stores.

James was speaking shortly after winning planning permission for a new-build petrol forecourt and 1,400sq ft convenience store on the A10 near Ely in Cambridgeshire.

He said the process had cost him £70,000 before building work has even started. Councils are placing more and more pre-conditions on applications as supermarkets become more sophisticated in their approach, he said.

"When you put in a planning application as an independent, you're facing the same costs as the supermarkets.

"It will completely and utterly stifle independent retail. It's more grief than it's worth."

The cost burden in his case included the need to produce in advance a detailed traffic impact report and full landscaping proposals.

If the application had been rejected, the money would have been wasted.

The original article appears in Independent Retail News
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