Fight to build supermarket/retail warehouse goes on

The sponsors of the proposed £80 million sterling supermarket and retail warehouse development at Sydenham in east Belfast have vowed to continue their campaign to build the scheme despite yet another legal setback.

By November the scheme at the 55-acre "D5" site in the Belfast Harbour lands will have been in the planning process for five years. The problems surrounding the development have become "something of a saga", observed the project manager, Mr Roger Duckworth, of Anglia & General Developments, which is joint developer with the Guardian Royal Insurance subsidiary, Aquis Estates.

The initial planning application for the development was in November 1995. The extent of the development meant that a public inquiry was held in December 1997 and this recommended planning consent. The scheme was then examined and further supported by the Planning Appeals Commission in 1998.

Two Northern Ireland Office ministers, Lord Dubs and his successor Mr George Howarth have separately announced that planning permission would be granted.

However, opponents of the scheme representing retail interests in Belfast and surrounding towns have launched two major legal challenges. Earlier this month the High Court in Belfast overturned, for the second time, the planners' decision to grant approval.

Commenting on the decision, Mr Duckworth said: "As far as we are concerned, having been through that process, all avenues open to us will be explored to reinstate the planning consent. We certainly won't be giving up."

He added: "When the history books are written, it will be seen that the byproducts of this delay have been that 55 acres of the harbour estate have been sterilized by these actions; the 1,200 jobs that will be created have been delayed; retailers who would create competition - which is good for consumers - are not here. The consumers are the only ones who are being hurt by all these proceedings." Mr Duckworth's firm, Anglia and General, has been the leading agency involved in bringing new UK multiple outlets to Belfast. The company was responsible for redeveloping the former Robinson and Cleaver and Anderson McCauley department stores. Their developments attracted the first NEXT, Disney, Monsoon and Men's Principles to Ireland.

The D5 scheme has already attracted support from major retailers, including Sainsbury, which is taking the supermarket element, and Toys 'R Us, Currys, Maples, Carpet Depot, Halfords and Pet Smart in the retail warehousing. There is also considerable interest in the leisure and fitness element of the scheme.

The developers anticipate that the D5 site at Airport Road West will provide the third point in a triangle of out-of-town retail developments around Belfast.

The other two points are provided by Sprucefield, beside Lisburn, to the south of the city, and the Abbey Centre in Newtownabbey.

Meanwhile the UK-based Stannifer group has finally received the go-ahead for its £50 million scheme beside Abbey Centre in Newtownabbey. Its retail park and supermarket development will include Tesco as anchor tenants and will have Northern Ireland's first Homebase DIY megastore, with 130,000 sq ft of space.

Construction is due to begin in the next few weeks. The planning process for the development at Church Road has taken around four years.

Stannifer is still waiting for a decision on its application for another shopping centre and retail park across the carriageway from the Sprucefield Shopping Centre at the A1/M1 junction outside Lisburn. Meanwhile, other agents feel that the days of the large out-of-town retail developments in the North are over. Lisney reports that the planning system in Northern Ireland has created an almost stagnant market for large retailers, which are now turning to smaller sites for further development.

LARGE players such as Sainsbury, Tesco, Co-op and SuperValu are joining food retailers like Mace, Spar, Costcutter and Vivo in the hunt for sites which will allow them to compete in the small to medium-scale store market.

Competition for appropriate sites looks set to intensify even further following the recent arrival of Centra, Iceland, Lidl and Aldi, all from outside Northern Ireland.

Lisney director, David McNellis, said: "There are few sites left with reasonable prospect of achieving planning consent and as a result the DoE Planning Service has effectively forced food retailers to reconsider their growth strategies."

The franchise model may develop in the light of this competition and also as retailers recognise the success and efficiencies of family-owned stores. McNellis believes these locally owned stores are prepared to carve out agreements with bigger buying groups to add security to their operations.

SuperValu recently announced an increase in market share indicating that the retailer's local manager-owned strategy is working.

Due to the very highly competitive market, other European players may be deterred from setting up here, warns McNellis.

"Because of economies of scale, retailers need access to large surface sites from which to operate successful units. The development of a market for smaller outlets will not encourage them to come here," he says.