Supermarket chain Lidl has claimed a rival is exploiting the planning system by initiating spurious objections to its plans for new outlets.
The German retailer urged the Government in a private letter to introduce reforms to remove “bottlenecks” – similar to Government measures that speed up large public infrastructure projects.
In a letter to Minister for Housing and Local Government James Browne, Lidl Ireland chief executive Robert Ryan said as a grocery retail business it was heavily reliant on the planning system to reach customers by developing its store network.
He said the company planned to open up to 35 new supermarkets and a new distribution centre as part of a €600 million investment over the next five years.
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Ryan warned that the current planning obstacles were “making our investment commitment challenging to deliver within the planned time frame”.
“The lengthy and often contested planning process is a clear inhibitor to our, and undoubtedly others across the industrial sector, ability to service communities and deliver on our investment plans,” Ryan said in letter released under the Freedom of Information Act.
“The protracted timelines associated with obtaining final planning approval – even after a local authority and An Coimisiún Pleanála grant permission – significantly delay our ability to proceed.
“We find that the current system is exploited, sometimes for anticompetitive purposes through spurious objections, which needlessly extend the development life cycle.”
In his letter to the Minister, sent in January, Ryan said Lidl was facing two judicial review actions in the courts challenging plans for new stores in Galway which had been approved by An Coimisiún Pleanála.
He pointed out that these challenges were being taken by a rival retailer.
“These actions deliberately exploit a legislative loophole in the current planning laws enabling anticompetitive challenges which significantly delay and jeopardise important local developments,” he said.
“The inability to gain certainty and timely final permission for commercially-zoned land is stifling competition, slowing job creation and delaying necessary community investment.
“These delays directly negatively impact local communities by denying them the benefits that new Lidl stores bring to the communities in which we operate,” Ryan said.
The Lidl chief referred in the letter to the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, established by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers last year, that sought to address public infrastructure delivery.
“We believe the retail and commercial development sector requires a similar focus on streamlining the planning process to improve on private investment and development,” he said.
“We are seeking a system that provides greater certainty and is less susceptible to exploitation that impedes economic progress.
“Each planning delay adds unnecessary costs, risks essential investment, and undermines confidence in Ireland’s planning process as a whole.”
Ryan said while Lidl remained ambitious in its plans for growth, “the current planning obstacles are making our investment commitment challenging to deliver within the planned time frame”.
The retailer argued that demand for infrastructure was not limited to roads, water, energy and housing. It maintained the grocery retail formed part of the social infrastructure of society.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ryan said Lidl would welcome any proposals “that would reduce spurious or anticompetitive objections which needlessly extend the planning process and block private commercial and retail development”.
“As Ireland’s fastest-growing retailer, we are seeing increasing demand for our stores in new communities and our planned store network development is currently being significantly impacted by timeline constraints due to the use of the judicial review process.”
It is understood the Minister did not meet Lidl on foot of the letter.
The Department of Housing said the Government was prioritising implementation of new planning legislation which, it maintained, would streamline the planning process, reduce delays and make our planning system clearer and more efficient.
