150 MPs call for a tougher test to save small shops

More than 150 MPs today demanded a tougher planning test for new supermarkets in a bid to protect small shops.

The Government is proposing to replace a "needs test" with one which would assess the impact of new developments on communities.

But the MPs want planning guidance to retain the existing test and to introduce a new one that assesses impact, diversity and carbon emissions. They believe this should be combined with a presumption against outoftown developments to discourage people from using their cars to go shopping.

Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, said: "It's important that the growth of supermarkets is constrained."

Ilford North Tory MP Lee Scott added: "We need to support independent traders and make sure high streets are not cloned."

In a Commons motion, the 154 MPs warned that the Competition Commission's recent recommendations do not go far enough to safeguard small shops. The commission backed town halls applying a "competition test" when deciding planning applications for new stores, as well as having a supermarket ombudsman to protect suppliers from so-called bully-boy tactics.

The MPs said the competition test was too weak as it would only kick in if a retailer gained at least 60 per cent of the local market.

"The remedies will do nothing to halt the closure of independent small shops," they said. "A high percentage of new supermarkets continue to be built out of town, leading to an increase in car-based shopping and related climate change emissions."

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: "We are introducing a new, stronger impact test that will mean councils can refuse any application that has a negative impact on the diversity of the high street, helping to protect small shops. The needs test is failing small shop owners through its crude pass-or-fail criteria."