A GOVERNMENT review of retail planning guidelines will examine the desirability of allowing out-of-town retail centres to offer free parking for customers.
The question of introducing parking charges at shopping centres and retail parks is one of a number of key issues which will be examined by the review announced yesterday.
It will also examine the current cap of 3,500sq m for floorspace for retail units.
The Minister of State with responsibility for planning policy Ciarán Cuffe has said the review is needed to retain a balance and ensure there is an “even playing field” between historic city and town centres and large out-of-town centres.
Mr Cuffe has said that the current guidelines, though less than a decade old, may no longer be appropriate for a retail sector that has seen fundamental changes in recent years.
The Minister, a Green Party deputy, has also said he is in favour of curbing the proliferation of out-of-town retail units with no public transport links and which are totally car-dependent.
The basis for charging for parking at the centres would be to “level the playing pitch” by increasing the attractiveness of shopping in urban centres – where parking is seldom free.
Mr Cuffe has argued that the balance struck by the guidelines must allow fair competition but equally should also protect historic city, town and village centres.
In the past 10 years there has been a substantial increase in large out-of-town retail centres close to roundabouts and major roads, which offer free parking to customers.
A departmental briefing document prepared for the review has suggested the typical location “may not make sufficient allowance for access by public transport”.
“Should edge-of-centre and out-of-town retail outlets be required to charge for onsite parking? If so, how should the revenue be used? Should it cross-subsidise public transport, to offset town centre parking costs?”
The paper also suggests that the recession may have driven developers to seek less expensive out-of-town locations for new retail centres. “At the same time, [it] has resulted in more vacant units in central locations, which may create the perception of urban decay.”
Organisations representing smaller independent and family-owned businesses – traditionally based in city and town centres – have argued that out-of-town retail centres have had an adverse effect on town centres.
The Competition Authority has taken the opposite view. It contended in a 2008 paper that the current retail planning guidelines may prevent more competition by imposing restrictions on the size and location of new grocery outlets.
That cap on the allowable floor space in retail centres will also be examined by the review. The current maximum grocery floorspace allowed is 3,500sq m.
However, the 2001 guidelines were amended in 2005 to allow the cap to be substantially increased for specialist large retail warehouses which required a large regional, or national, population catchment. The amendment was made specifically to allow Ikea to open a store in Dublin.
If the cap were to be relaxed for other types of retail development, large American multiples like WalMart might be attracted to locate in Ireland.
Between 2001 and 2006, there was a 66 per cent increase in the number of grocery stores run by multiples (such as Tesco, Dunnes and Aldi) and by affiliated retailers (such as SuperValu).
By contrast, there has been a 50 per cent decline in the number of independent retailers during the same period.