Blears: I'll change rules on planning to protect town centres

Sweeping curbs on out-of-town supermarkets are to be introduced in a bid to protect smaller shops, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears announced today.

After months of consultation, Ms Blears has decided that planning guidance should be changed to allow councils to preserve their town centres and fight the spread of "clone town Britain".

She said the Evening Standard's Save Our Small Shops campaign had "struck a chord" across the capital, as well as the country, and that it was time to take action.

Under the changes, the current simplistic planning test - which only judges whether there is capacity for an out-of-town supermarket - will be replaced with a more rounded "impact test" which assesses the risks and benefits of new businesses on existing small shops and the town centre.

Special planning guidance, known as "Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres", will be amended to ensure that new outoftown developments do not choke existing small businesses or draw valuable trade away from the town.

The change will see the scrapping of the "needs test" which has seen some proposed town-centre shops turned down because of the presence of out-of-town developments. Councils will now have to take a deeper look at how new businesses affect the health of town centres.

Ms Blears, who will outline the protections later this week, said: "London has many independent small shops at the heart of the local community which are part of its unique history. That's why I putting my support behind the Evening Standard campaign and taking action this week to strengthening the planning rules so they better protect our small shops during the credit crunch and keep them thriving along London's high streets."

"Independent butchers, bakers and booksellers are icons of local pride, giving high streets a style all of their own and testifying to London's unique history. Our priority is to ensure we do not see more stretches of the nation's high streets turned into bland "every towns".

"We need more individuality, more small scale independent shops, and a new spirit of independent enterprise on our high streets."