Decision on Bailieborough Aldi in March

Paul Neilan

Aldi has supplied further information to Cavan County Council on their planning application for a store in Bailieborough.
The application for a 'single storey discount foodstore to include off licence use with a gross floor area of 1,550.5 sqm’ was submitted to the planning department in the council on November 21 of last year and was met with a request for further information before any decision could be made.
Aldi has now supplied the requested information and a decision will be made by mid-March on the store, which would provide 15-20 jobs.
There were four objections to the original application, alongside a submission from Tesco, which has a store across the road from the site in Beckscourt.
Objections were lodged by, or on behalf of, Ms L Harris of SuperValu in the town; Rory Clarke, Bailieborough Traders Association and Bailieborough Development Association Ltd.
Traders in the town are concerned that should the application be granted that the town’s Main Street businesses will suffer a lack of footfall.
The main issues addressed by Aldi in the submissions were on material contraventions of development plans, that the retail impact statement was underestimated, along with flood, traffic and urban design questions.
In their letter, Aldi address the concern of SuperValu’s objection on the economic impact to the town.

Economic impact
'The submission made of behalf of SuperValu refers to the potential economic impacts of the proposed development on existing retailers in the town. It is submitted that the format of the store will primarily compete with existing supermarkets within Bailieborough such as SuperValu and Tesco,’ reads the correspondence from planning consultants John Spain Associates on behalf of Aldi.
'It will introduce a new retail format to the town and provide for enhanced customer choice and will not have any significant adverse impact on the town centre as a whole as demonstrated in the submitted RIS [Retail Impact Statement].’
Aldi was also asked for a list of stores in towns comparable to Bailieborough - populations between 1,500 and 5,000 - and submitted 21 and the company has also re-submitted a revised site layout plan.
The company was also asked to expand the area, which would be affected by the store - the 'catchment area’ - to include the nearby towns of Kingscourt and Virginia along with Mullagh and Crossbane.
The population of the now-expanded area is listed as 22,109 and Aldi calculates the spend each person projected for the year of 2016 at €3,993.
They further estimate that there was a total spend in the area in 2011 in the 'convenience expenditure’ - in which Aldi stores are categorised - of €85m.
In 2016, this figure will rise to €95m and the estimated turnover of the proposed Aldi is €9.12m.
Essentially, Aldi contend that there is enough money in the catchment area for them to take in without damaging the turnover of the other stores like SuperValu and Tesco, for example.

Number-crunching
'For the purposes of this study it is estimated that the existing Tesco and SuperValu in Bailieborough and SuperValu in Virginia and Kingscourt would yield a turnover €11,000 per square metre’, they say.
Other smaller stores in the area are yielding €5,500 per sq metre, they contend.
Crunching the numbers, Aldi says the total turnover of these stores per annum is €63,651,500. Subtracting that from the €95m, they get an 'available surplus’ of cash of €31m.
Even with an Aldi in the area, they say that there would still be a surplus of shoppers’ cash in convenience shopping of over €22m - which would be strongly rejected by traders.
Aldi were also asked to factor in a 'hypermarket’ in Cavan Town - the new Tesco the town awaits.
Addressing the scenario Aldi says:
'Bailieborough is the closest comparable settlement but has an established presence and a developed trade pattern. As a result there will be no significant impact on Bailieborough from the proposed development and it can be expected that a more balanced retail environment will reduce unsustainable travel patterns.’
In short, Aldi figures a maximum of €3.8m will be taken out of the catchment area by a Tesco hypermarket, which still leaves them with €18m unspent by shoppers.
Traders in Bailieborough will know the council’s decision by March 19 and can inspect the plans at the council’s offices.