Last week I was honoured to be the opening speaker at The ACS Heart of the Community (HoC) event in Westminster.The afternoon event was attended by 130 members.The reception in the evening was attended by many MPs as well as retailers.

The two key topics of the day were Localism and Planning and both stimulated a great deal of debate from retailers and politicians alike.

The NPPF is a 52 page document that basically replaces the many thousands of pages of planning guidelines previously.In my view it is very open to the interpretation of the Local authorities as it has very ambiguous terms in it.

If you couple that with the various potential issues that may arise through Localism, Planning could well become a nightmare for retailers.Thankfully, Planning Ministers are currently giving comfort that “Town Centre First” planning policy will continue. I sincerely hope so !

I was a victim of the power of localism when I first applied for our petrol filling Station at littleport.One Councillor got it into his head that the site was neither wanted nor needed and he therefore rallied support to get the plans squashed.

No particular justification for his dislike of the idea was ever forthcoming but the cost to us of overcoming the various hurdles that were put in our way was enormous.I will not deny that the driver to continue the fight was derived from the fact that I had spent too much on professional fees to withdraw the application.

I believe that this years HoC event highlighted the potential pitfalls that Localism and the new Planning framework pose.As the saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed” and we as local retailers are well placed to keep an ear to the ground with regards to local proposals.