The Government has announced new measures to restrict the size of shopping centres. Minister for the Environment released details of the Retail Planning Guidelines today. The announcement follows two years of intensive lobbying on the size of out of town shopping centres. The retail planning guidelines will prevent supermarket developments outside Dublin going over 3,000 square metres. In the greater Dublin area, they will be allowed an extra five hundred square metres.
In future, there will be no large shopping centres allowed beside motorways or on greenfield sites outside urban centres. That decision responded to fears that huge food stores and shopping malls would damage towns and villages as shoppers travelled miles for their weekly groceries. The guidelines are based on five key principles, including the promotion of easy access by public transport.
The role of smaller town and District shopping centres in rural areas will also be promoted. Local authorities have been told to draw up new strategies to incorporate the guidelines this year. The independent grocery group, RGDATA, has broadly welcomed the move. In the past, larger retailers such as Tesco had opposed restrictions. The chain said that it would consider the details of today's announcement before making any comment.
