Beggs Comments on Costcutter Job Losses

Responding to the closure of the Costcutter store in Larne Town, local MLA Roy Beggs Jnr said:

"This very disappointing news will have come as terrible shock to customers and to the staff at Costcutters who have lost their jobs. This is a timely reminder that in the food retail sector, jobs are often displaced rather than new jobs being created.

Most residents of Larne welcomed the additional choice that Asda has brought to Larne. Whilst Larne retailing will have gained some of the customers who would have travelled outside Larne for their weekly shop, undoubtedly it would also have attracted some customers from other local retailers such as Costcutters. Competition gives a greater choice to customers and normally forces retailers to reduce their prices and is good for customers. However as we have discovered in the case of Costcutters, a new supermarket can simply result in the loss of other retail jobs.

However, there is a particular danger with supermarkets being established outside the town centre boundary as this can weaken the town centre retail core and so endanger a range of shops within the town centre. The experience of Costcutters in Larne must be a lesson for the Planning service as it considers a number of applications for other supermarket developments outside the Larne Town centre boundary.

The current Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS5) governs the location of new supermarkets in Northern Ireland was issued in 1996 and is woefully out of date. A new replacement policy was issued for consultation in July 2006 and has yet to be finalised. It proposed a sequential approach and a needs test in the identification of suitable sites for major retail proposals. In short it was a town centre first policy. Yet, 4 years after it was published it remains in draft form and is not official policy. This is a scandalous situation which I have repeatedly raised at Stormont.[1]

Questions need to be answered by successive DUP Ministers for the Environment- who have been in charge of the Planning Service since 2007. Our MP who was previously the Minister in charge of Planning loudly claimed the credit for bringing Asda to Larne[2] and boasted about it in his election literature[3]. But, is he now going to take equal responsibility for the closure of Costcutter and the pressures that are mounting on other shops within Larne town centre? Those who actively supported supermarket development outside the town centre and not even on the edge of the defined town centre must answer for themselves."

[1] http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ni/?id=2008-09-22.1.1

[2] The Assembly - Official Report Monday 23 March 2009

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