Opponents of development must be 'taken on'

Mr Hay, who has himself worked behind the scenes to assist developers of a major 300m project that involves a Premier Inn hotel, state of the art facilities for high tech and finance firms, a Sainsbury’s store, private health centre and other developments they believe could create up to 3,000 jobs, said business representatives who allege the proposals would affect the city centre must be “taken on”.

Sainsury’s already has a store in the cityside, and the new site developers insist the supermarket chain is not interested in taking business away from its premises at Strand Road, but wants to attract new business that the city is losing out on.

Mr Hay warned: “This is a unique opportunity. There is potential for more than 300m investment to come into the city, a city that has been plagued by large unemployment rates for years, a city that suffers deprivation, yet there are those who would oppose these developments at Crescent Link, and who claim that ‘out of town’ shopping will harm the city centre.

“Well, people are already voting with their feet, and the real ‘out of town’ business is going out of Londonderry altogether. And it’s not just business that is lost, people are moving out to study and they don’t come back, because the jobs are not there for them. This can help change that.”

Mr Hay believes the city centre is an evolving, rather than a fixed location and that the development of the Ebrington barracks site will help it evolve further.

He warned: “This is a city on the verge of major transition. People want the Crescent Link development where retail is only one-quarter of a development that will bring a substantial number of high quality and well paid jobs. There is a unique opportunity to bring thousands of jobs to this city, with around 300m of private money - without a penny of public money - being invested in Crescent Link alone.”

As well as these proposals, Asda hopes to open at Crescent Link, in a 30m project at the current Homebase site. It too says too much business is leaking out of the city.

“They are trying to say this development will take business out of town - when the fact is that the real out of town business is going to Coleraine and to Strabane. We can’t allow anyone to stop inward investment on this scale. There is no reason why we can’t support city centre traders, while at the same time supporting the development of the Link Road,” said Mr Hay.

“People are already voting with their feet, and there is leakage which Asda and Sainsbury’s want to address. I, for one, as a public representative would be very unwise to reject an opportunity that would bring thousands of jobs to this city in a time of recession.

“We need to take on those who are opposed to what is happening on the Link Road.”

His views have been echoed around the council chamber recently, but Mr Hay has urged everyone involved in the planning process to approve applications as soon as possible.

At a recent meeting, his colleague, Joe Miller said it would be “absolute economic madness” to refuse plans to build an Asda superstore in Londonderry.

Alderman Miller made the comment at a meeting of Derry City Council’s planning committee when representatives from Asda and Genova North West, the owners of the Crescent Link retail park, addressed councillors.

Members were told the development would deliver a 30 million boost to the local economy and provide 200 construction jobs and up to 350 jobs on completion.

Alderman Miller said: “The majority of people want to see a company like this coming in. The local support is there big time. It would be absolute economic madness to turn down such an offer coming to our city. I propose that this planning committee support in principle Asda coming to this city,” he said.

SDLP councillor Shaun Gallagher said the development would provide greater competition for shoppers. “Anything that provides competition is welcome. One store in competition with another store of the same chain is not competition,” he said.

Sinn Fein’s Lynn Fleming said: “There is no doubt people are voting with their feet and travelling to Strabane and Coleraine. One issue to be taken into account is city centre trade and we understand their concerns but we have to look at value for money.

“We also must ensure that if this goes ahead that social clauses be drawn into the contracts so that local builders can benefit from its construction,” she said.

Phil Barton from Asda also told councillors that the company is keen to open a store on the cityside but insisted that there are no immediate plans to do so and that no location has been chosen.

The decision by the council to welcome the Asda application in principle - proposed by Joe Miller - has not gone down well with the Derry City Traders’ Forum who expressed disappointment at this move.

Recently, councillors also heard from Martin McCrossan (Derry City Traders’ Forum) and Eamon Gee (Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association) regarding concerns In relation to a number of out of town retail planning applications in Crescent Link and Buncrana Road and their impact on the City Centre.

The council’s minutes recorded: “Mr McCrossan advised Members that he was representing Derry City Traders Forum which represented 173 retailers in the city, including the Waterside area. He advised that the Traders’ Forum had huge concerns in relation to the large number of major planning applications which had been submitted in respect of out of town shopping centres. Mr. McCrossan said they believed such centres were detrimental to traders in the city centre.

Mr Gee advised Members that he was representing the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association. He revealed that he had been a retailer in the city for 25 years but had no commercial interest in the city centre itself. During this time he had paid 20 million in wages and 1 million in rates.

“Mr Gee revealed that a recent study had revealed that in England and Wales 42% of all small towns and villages had no shop of any kind in their centre. Mr Gee suggested that this highlighted the potential impact that out of town developments were having and would continue to have. He also referred to a study carried out by Roger Tym and Partners on behalf of the government which revealed the negative effect on town centre food shops by out of town shopping centres. He also said that a study carried out by the National Retailers Planning Forum on 96 out of town foodstores revealed that each store of more than 40,000 square feet which opened resulted in the loss of 275 full time jobs in that area. Mr Gee suggested that Members should be aware that a lot of the jobs the new stores would bring would be part-time. He said that it was anticipated that if the applications in respect of the Crescent Link were approved 550 full time jobs would disappear. He also referred to the detrimental effect on Tesco and Longs if the Asda application was approved. He said whilst he was not against multiple stores he felt they should be located in town centres.”

Dr Karise Hutchinson, from the University of Ulster’s department of Business, Retail and Financial Services said that in general there is a need to produce a policy that allows both small shops in town centres and out of town retailers to co-exist. She also said that small shops in town centres like Londonderry have something unique to offer customers and that it’s important to allow business to flow into city centres and then out to larger retail destinations.

Responding to questions put by The Sentinel, she said: “In the last ten years NI has witnessed an increase in the demand for larger store sizes and international brands. This demand has been poorly managed as a result of difficulties relating to the confines of traditional town centre locations which comprise of relatively small-scale historic buildings in attractive settings e.g. Antrim, Coleraine and Lisburn. Both access and car parking are limited leaving many towns unable to accommodate large volumes of consumer traffic.

“The debate concerning of out of town development versus in town development is not a new phenomenon in NI. Looking back to the mid-1990’s, Tesco and Sainsburys entered the NI market despite the strong protests made by independent retailers in town centres. But this long-standing debate has been brought sharply into focus again by the sheer number of planning applications by GB multinationals for the development of excessive out of town sites in NI. In my opinion, I believe that the priority must be given to town centre development. In the past decade, the ‘loose’ nature of NI planning policy has enabled a fast track expansion for multiple retailers in out of town developments to the detriment of town centre business. The key word at the centre of this debate is ‘balance’.

“Clearly the prolific expansion in out of town sites has led to significant imbalance in the retail market in NI. There is a need for a clear cut and balanced planning policy that will support a competitive and healthy environment for NI as a whole whereby both small shops in town centres and larger multiple retailers in out of town developments can co-exist. Small shops in town/city centres like Londonderry have something unique to offer consumers in terms of products and high levels of customer service in addition to other unique selling points (USPs) differentiating them from larger competitors. Therefore, it is important that the life blood of consumer shopping behaviour is allowed to flow through these town/city centres and then out to larger retail destinations.

“The recession has undoubtedly had a significant impact upon the retail sector in NI. As consumers become increasingly savvy with their cash, retailers of all sizes must be competitive in their pricing strategies but also creative in persuading shoppers to come into their shop and make a purchase.

“Retailers cannot control the harsh trading conditions of the retail market, however, they can control the internal processes and strategies of their business. For instance, structuring/re-structuring their current business model to be more efficient; strengthening their brand message to offer something unique and new to the market; up-skilling their workforce to ensure high levels of customer service. The recession is forcing retailers to move beyond customer management to building long-term relationships with customers to ensure sustainability of the business beyond these difficult times.”