Jempson's says its Rye supermarket would "almost certainly" close if Aldi establishes a presence in the town. The 89 year old local firm predicts it would lose £5.6m or almost a third of its turnover.
The surprise admission emerged in the full objection by Jempson's and Morrisons to Aldi's supermarket planning application on Winchelsea Road in Rye. As we revealed last week, the firm representing the two supermarkets lodged a “holding objection” two weeks after Rother District Council’s (RDC) online consultation closed at the start of August. The full objection was published over the bank holiday weekend.
Meanwhile, examination of the public comments lodged with RDC shows 167 or almost 90% support the Aldi proposal, compared to 14 objections and 5 general comments.
Jempson’s has been approached for comment. A spokesperson for Aldi had nothing to add beyond the comment in last week's Rye News.
Rye News asked trade and transport journalist David Worwood, who has been following planning policy over the years, to analyse the detailed objection from Jempson's.
While many might view the closure threat as Jempson's conceding it cannot compete with Aldi, the disclosure can also be seen as part of a wider strategy to bolster Jempson's arguments about the potential impact of the German discounter on Rye town centre's retail businesses.
The objection, written by Leeds-based planning consultants Peacock and Smith, will be assessed by Rother District Council's planning team. While RDC will give 'weight' to any material planning considerations, closer inspection may reveal weaknesses in the document — as some of the reasoning appears contestable and unconvincing to those familiar with Rye.
For example, Jempson's consultants point out that Nationwide provides the only banking facility in town for two days a week but fail to mention the building society's 24/7 ATM. Yes, the 1,150 sq m supermarket hosts the post office, but another premises would surely be found if Jempson's were to close. The assertion that Morrisons' food store in Hastings would be affected by an Aldi in Rye appears rather hard to justify.
RDC will view the objection in light of the fact that it comes from a significant local business and a big source of employment in Rye over many decades. It will also note it is Rye's only supermarket operator, which stands to lose business if Aldi gains a foothold.
Jempson's says the 1,863 sq m Aldi store would be located out of the town centre and claims it would exert "a significantly adverse impact on the vitality and viability of [the] town centre of Rye". However, Peacock and Smith's own "revised impact assessment" of convenience shops' turnovers indicates that stores other than Jempson's would see no effect on their predicted 2027 turnover of £8.3m. The main impact of Aldi would be on Jempson's central Rye supermarket.
Indeed, Jempson's core assertion that Aldi will draw away trade from elsewhere in the town centre may be viewed as questionable, since most of the centre's businesses are tourist or service-related.
While Jempson's claims its store "anchors the town centre", Aldi's consultant denies this is the case, quoting a finding in the Rother Retail and Town Centre Uses Study of 2023.
Jempson's planning objection also raises questions about the "retail impact test" for Aldi, shopping patterns, floorspace demand, where its rival's trade will come from (trade diversion) and so forth. Nowhere in the document is the key subject of competition raised, and there's no mention of online grocery ordering.
The 90-space Jempson's car park plays an important role in the town. The parking is only free for half an hour with £10 needing to be spent in the store to obtain a parking refund for longer periods. There's no evidence that any successor supermarket — if it comes to that — would close the car park.
The reason Jempson's stands to lose £5.6m in turnover (or the lesser figure given by Aldi) could be because it thinks it would be unable to compete with Aldi, not because the latter will have a negative impact on town centre trade as a whole.
Jempson's and Morrisons' argument that Aldi's proposal fails to comply with RDC's DaSA policy DEC3 also appears flawed, because the existing buildings on the Aldi site have been declared unfit for purpose, making their continued employment use unviable. Fifty jobs will be created by Aldi, compared to the current 10 jobs on the site.
The assessment of the "mixed use" development and the planning weight given to the pre-pandemic Rye Neighbourhood Plan's Policy H6 remain somewhat unclear. Much has changed in five years. While the west Winchelsea Road site was allocated 20 dwellings, 16 private houses are already proposed and up to 44 retirement flats could be agreed for the McCarthy Stone proposal. The plan's recommendation of B1 (offices/R&D/light industry) employment could well be outweighed by the overwhelming community demand for a second supermarket on the "edge-of-centre" site.
The Rye Neighbourhood Plan states that the "Rother Core Strategy includes a requirement for 1,650 sq m net additional convenience floorspace within or adjacent to the town centre of Rye".
We are a long way from any decisions on planning permission for Aldi as several outstanding issues remain. Jempson's may once again fend off a potential rival, or a sale of its store could even leave the town with two competing supermarkets and far lower food prices. The crucial issue is whether Rye should have a second supermarket to provide much-needed competition.
It's not known to what extent RDC will consider the emerging Rother Local Plan 2020-2040 in its appraisal of the Aldi planning application, but it's likely to have some influence.
At the end of the day, road junction access, transport and parking issues — previously mentioned in Rye News — could well prove more consequential in RDC's planning decision for the Winchelsea Road site than Jempson's intervention.
You can read the full letter from Jempson’s and Morrisons here.
