Aldi is urging political leaders to expedite planning permission processes due to significant delays.
- George Brown, Aldi’s real estate director, highlighted challenges in obtaining timely planning consents.
- Aldi is lagging in its expansion goals, with planning red tape cited as a primary hurdle.
- Competitors also face bureaucratic obstacles, echoing frustrations across the retail sector.
- Proposed changes align with government aims to boost economic growth and construction.
Aldi is calling for urgent reforms to the UK’s planning permission processes, citing prolonged delays that hinder its expansion plans. The retailer’s national real estate director, George Brown, has been at the forefront of these efforts, recently meeting with a senior adviser to the Prime Minister. Brown emphasised the need for more efficient decision-making, noting that planning consent for new Aldi stores often takes over 12 months and is exacerbated by under-resourced local authorities.
In a LinkedIn post, Brown expressed Aldi’s willingness to invest in the application process to expedite approvals. He underscored the preference among planning authorities for warehouse sites over supermarket openings, despite the latter generating more local jobs. Brown stated, ‘To unlock significant investment in the UK economy, this needs to change.’
Currently, Aldi is behind its target to establish 1,200 UK stores by 2025, operating just over 1,020 locations. The delays, attributed to planning red tape, material shortages, and competitor objections, have not only slowed Aldi’s growth but also impeded sales.
The retailer’s campaign for reform aligns with the government’s broader agenda to stimulate development and construction projects. Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, has vowed to ‘turbo-charge’ the planning process to support faster development of homes and commercial ventures.
Aldi’s concerns reflect broader frustrations within the retail sector. Waitrose, Lidl, and Iceland have also voiced challenges related to planning consents. Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director, referred to these delays as a ‘handbrake on growth’, while accusing Aldi and Lidl of strategic manoeuvres to hinder Iceland’s expansion, claims that both discounters have not addressed directly.
Aldi, in turn, has countered allegations of filing unnecessary objections, arguing that other supermarkets frequently challenge its store openings due to its competitive pricing strategy. The number of such objections has reportedly increased, as stated by Aldi’s UK CEO, Giles Hurley.
The government has so far chosen not to comment on the disputes, leaving the retail sector in continued anticipation of potential reforms that could alleviate these bureaucratic burdens.
Aldi’s advocacy for streamlined planning reflects a broader industry-wide demand for reform to facilitate business expansion.
