Half of English towns ‘have five or more supermarkets’ Almost half of English towns are within a 10-minute drive of five or more supermarkets, new research has claimed. Forty-two percent of towns nationwide are within 10 minutes of five supermarkets, retail consultancy CACI found – a proportion that rises to 58% in the West Midlands. Last month the Conserative party said that if elected it would revive the old ‘needs test’ – ditched by Labour – governing where supermarkets can develop new stores. “At the moment if a local authority knocks back a supermarket chain, it simply throws more cash at the application, pulls in the best lawyers and wins on appeal,” Tory MP David Amess told the Daily Mail. http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/articles.aspx?page=articles&ID=207819