Retail Planning Guidelines: As Swedish furniture giant Ikea waits in the wings for a Government decision on whether it will amend its retail planning guidelines, the Irish Hardware and Buildings Materials Association (IHBMA) has issued a warning that it would be "a grave mistake to make ad hoc changes to suit the vested interests of one or two shed operators".
"Outside of the demands of two shed operators, there has been no change in the structure of the market or the size of the stores to merit changing the current guidelines," says Jim Goulding of the IHBMA in a strongly worded press release.
Ikea - which has a typical store size of 28,000 sq m (301,389 sq ft) in the UK - has said it will open in Ireland if the current cap for a single use retail warehouse of 6,000 sq m (64,583 sq ft) is lifted.
B&Q, which has stores in Liffey Valley and Tallaght, is also looking to have the cap removed and has called the current retail guidelines "anti-competitive".
It is believed there is concern in Government circles that the absence of large international retailers is fuelling inflation. There are also concerns that if IKEA is not facilitated, it will open close to the Border in Northern Ireland where it can also service customers from the South.
Jim Goulding says there is no economic or social justification for changing the retail warehouse cap and says the planning guidelines are supportive of national spatial strategy.
"To tamper with them would be detrimental to planning and development. Do you want our landscape to be blighted by large sheds which suck the commercial life from the local economies in which they operate?" he asks. "That has been the experience in Europe and the UK."
Calling them "category killers", he said large retail units lead to increased prices for consumers as smaller operators are forced to close.
He maintains the average size of a retail warehouse unit is 2,000 sq m (21,527 sq ft) less than the current maximum size allowed of 6,000 sq m (64,583 sq ft).
"So there is significant room for growth and development by new entrants and multiple players currently operating within the State under the existing retail guidelines." Last year saw a reduced spend on household durables of 0.5 per cent, in contrast to a mid-1990s increases in expenditure of 14 per cent.
"The supposed pent-up demand predicted when guidelines were introduced does not exist and this must be taken into account in the review currently underway."
He suggests that if the Government decides to facilitate IKEA, it does so by developing a specific category for them. "The retail format operated by IKEA is not a retail warehouse as defined by the Planning Guidelines and is not affected by the cap. If the Government wishes to facilitate IKEA it can do so without altering current guidelines."
