THE GOVERNMENT looks set to put an end to uncontrolled building of supermarkets by restricting the number of town planning permits issued.
A member of the Town Planning Council, Stefanos Papanikolaou, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that there were too many supermarkets.
“The government is re-evaluating its policy regarding issuing further town planning permits for the construction of supermarkets,” he said.
“The reason is that the number of supermarkets exceeds the needs of the people living around them.”
Papanikolaou said the government would decide on the size of the supermarket according to the number of people living around it and the number of potential shoppers.
“We will have stricter criteria regarding their position in urban areas; for example, we don’t want people building their supermarkets next to one another, we don’t want them to shut each other down,” he said.
“If we think the number of supermarkets are sufficient for one specific area, we will not issue town planning permits for the construction of new ones.”
Papanikolaou said the new policy would also help family-run businesses, which have been affected by the construction of huge shopping malls around the island.
A shopping mall representative told the Cyprus Mail yesterday the decision to stop issuing building permits would be beneficial for both large chains and small businesses.
Interior Minister Andreas Panayiotou said yesterday a decision on the issue would be taken by the Cabinet next month. Panayiotou said existing supermarkets would not be included in the policy.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
