Planning&Development: Planning disputes are set to intensify as local traders attempt to halt the mutation of retail warehousing parks to cater for town centre goods. Gretchen Friemann reports.

They call it the "Argos saga" in Sligo. Had all gone to plan the catalogue retailer would be trading today from a 939sq m (10,000sq ft) store at Carraroe retail park located just outside the north-west gateway town.

Instead the unit is still empty following one of the most high profile planning rows ever to have rocked Sligo.

The Argos saga is a familiar story across the country. On one side consumers are demanding access to cut-price goods while on the other local traders are defending their higher margin businesses against an onslaught from big-box retailers.

Most of these disputes, like the Sligo row, revolve around the development of retail warehousing parks where large scale stores enable companies, like Argos, to offer a wider product range and create greater efficiencies.

But business groups and campaigners for local traders, such as RGDATA, point out that retail warehousing developments are limited under the planning guidelines to bulky goods suppliers and should not be used by companies selling products normally traded in town centres. They claim that would give the big-box multinationals an unfair advantage over established retailers.

Yet when Sligo Chambers of Commerce appealed to An Bord Pleanála that Argos was not a bulky goods retailer, the organisation triggered a furious public backlash.

Enraged consumers filled the radio airwaves and newspaper column inches with accusations of protectionism and in the internet chat rooms people were urged to boycott any town centre shops associated with the chambers of commerce.

So are the planning guidelines serving the interest of consumers or local businesses? Property experts point out that the rapid change in shopping habits in Ireland means retail parks will inevitably end up housing a wider retail mix than present. "It may take a few years," one source said, "but it's going to happen because that's where retailing is heading in this country. We should also learn from places, like the UK and the US, that you can't hold these developments back. Eventually retailers that weren't originally intended for these parks move in and we should anticipate this by adopting a more forward-thinking approach to town planning."

Other property experts claim the planning tensions are partly a result of the phenomenal growth of retail warehousing.

Up until recently retail parks were sure-fire money-spinners for developers and investors alike. Their box-like designs were relatively cheap to construct while the scramble for market share among the major DIY chains ensured high rents and sizeable profits.

But the speed of construction in this sector is transforming retail warehousing into a complex investment proposition.

For a start, there is now an over-supply of space in most provincial towns and property experts warn rents will decline at those complexes catering to small population catchments. Secondly, developers are having to fight a lot harder to secure a DIY heavyweight as the anchor tenant. A few years ago signing one of the big four - Woodies, B & Q, Homebase and Atlantic Homecare - was a dead cert. Not only was Ireland "under-shopped" according to retail experts, it was in the grip of a nationwide housing boom.

Today the big four has effectively become three, following the merger of building groups Grafton and Heiton, the parent companies of Woodies and Atlantic Homecare.

Although the two brands still trade separately, property experts agree the two retailers are no longer competing against each other for space.

This dwindling pool of available tenants means the race to fill units is becoming more difficult and it has prompted many developers and local authorities to accept tenants not typically associated with bulky goods retailing.

Property experts point out the commercial rates from these developments are a powerful incentive for county councils which, after years of blocking this shopping format, are now approving these schemes in record numbers.

But other sources point out that local authorities are under pressure from developers desperate to fill the retail parks as well as from consumers demanding access to a wider and cheaper range of goods.

In defending its decision to allow Argos into Carraroe, Sligo County Council said the catalogue chain was more like a warehouse retailer than a regular store.

The company already has five units operating from retail parks in other parts of the country and is expected to open its sixth large-scale outlet in Tullamore within a few weeks.

It's understood that Argos views retail warehousing units as central to its expansion plans in Ireland and property experts argue this was why the catalogue retailer bowed out of the planning row in Sligo.

According to one source close to the Carraroe development: "Argos did not want to risk An Bord Pleanála setting a precedent that could affect its status in other retail parks or impact upon its chances of securing space in these schemes in the future."

Last November the catalogue retailer announced it had abandoned its plans for a store in Sligo for the foreseeable future. Local press reports show consumers still feel cheated by the whole experience while Sligo Chamber of Commerce maintains its objections to Argos simply upheld the rules of the county's local development plan which stipulated that comparison or smaller goods could not be sold from retail warehousing sites.

Sligo residents may have finished with big-box retailing disputes for the moment but, in many communities across the country, the front lines of a new battle are already in formation.