Supermarkets forced to abandon plans for new stores as shopping habits shift

A quarter of UK supermarkets granted planning permission during the past five years have either been cancelled or mothballed, new research reveals.

The study commissioned for a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, called Supermarket Wars, which airs on Monday – underlines how the sector is being battered by changing shopping habits, as customers shun large out-of-town stores in favour of smaller convenience stores.

The switch in shoppers' behaviour has caused Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons to announce huge write-downs on the value of their property portfolios, as they struggle to work out how to use the millions of square feet of land they have acquired but no longer need.

Plans for 97 new stores have been abandoned or have stalled out of the 400 supermarkets approved by local authorities since 2009, Dispatches has found, with Tesco accounting for 60 of the 97 U-turns.

The figures follow a Guardian study published in June that revealed how Tesco has been hoarding land and buildings on 310 sites and covering an area big enough to build 15,000 homes. Last week the UK's largest supermarket chain said it will begin making use of some of that undeveloped landbank, and announced plans to build 4,000 new homes.

A spokesman for Tesco said: "In response to changing customer shopping habits we have decided to reduce the amount of new space we build each year, building fewer large stores."

Apart from Tesco, the data shows that Sainsbury's has retreated from 11 stores, Aldi from nine, the Co-op from seven and Morrisons from six. In contrast, Asda has abandoned plans for just one new store in the past five years, and a spokesman said: "We've always taken a very cautious approach to property development. We've never been one for land banking."

The programme also found that the supermarkets pulling back from plans has resulted in the cancellation of £7.2m of section 106 planning obligations – the conditions local authorities attach to approving developments which are designed to benefit local communities. The effect means that 182 affordable houses and 314 retirement homes will no longer be built, while contributions to public art and recreational space now do not need to be made.

Tesco added: "The purpose of section 106 agreements is to mitigate the impact that a development would have on a local area. For example, they are often used to compensate for the cost of additional infrastructure that may be required, such as a new road junction. If the development doesn't take place, there is no impact to be mitigated."