A shake-up of the planning system put forward in a report on the future of land use in England could see a supermarket spring up in every market town.
Kate Barker, a member of the monetary policy committee at the Bank of England, and author of the report, recommended that planners should no longer assess the “need” for new retail space.
This could potentially up the presence of supermarkets in smaller communities.
The report, which supports existing policy on supermarkets being sited as close as possible to town centres, is expected to form the basis of a White Paper on planning next year.
