In the dark of the night Simon Corbell has announced his plans to stop you buying from shops you’d otherwise choose to.
“The primary intention of this draft variation is to protect the interests of smaller independent supermarkets in the ACT retail industry,” Mr Corbell said.
“By restricting retail floor space to 1000m² in local centres the government is reinforcing the important role that local centres play in providing convenience retailing to their local communities.
“Currently supermarkets in local centres have no gross floor area (GFA) limits, but under DV 304, the display and selling area will be limited to 1000m².”
Draft Variation 304 (DV 304) provides further clarity about the space available to supermarket operators for their retail operations in local centres.
To allow greater flexibility for group centres to grow and develop, supermarkets and other shops selling food in the outer areas of group centres will be able to have a 1500m2 gross floor area (GFA), up from 300m2 allowed in group centres currently. At present these supermarkets are limited to the core areas of group centres.
Draft Variation 304 delivers on an ACT Government commitment announced in August 2012, to cap the gross floor area of local centre supermarkets.
Mr Corbell said the draft variation also proposed changes to the commercial zoning boundaries in some group centres to provide a more logical identification of the core and surrounding zones.
“We know that Canberrans like to support local businesses that are also located close to their homes for convenience, and DV 304 also contains provisions to allow for future growth and development,” he said.
UPDATE: The Draft Variation is now online.