I’M NOT quite sure at what point the Planning Department took over responsibility for the items that retailers sell in their shops.

I would have thought that the officers had enough to do looking out for oversized blocks of flats and millionaire developers flouting the law, rather than poking around in farm shops. But it appears that the Planning Department believe that it is now their job to tell people what they can sell and what they can’t.

This week we were told that officers were concerned that one particular farm shop in Grouville was selling too many non-local goods and that there was a danger that if all the others followed suit it would all get out of hand and the town shops would be left out of pocket.

Well bless my soul. Poor old town shops. I suppose all those out-of-own Marks & Spencer outlets will be out of pocket, too. And maybe the Waitrose that is moving into the former Safeway site. Perhaps Checkers might be feeling the pinch, or Spar, or even the CI Co-op.

Or – and this is pure speculation – perhaps Planning have been talking to Economic Development, who are so keen to bring in a ‘third’ supermarket company from somewhere or other, and they are trying to make sure that the farm shops are not providing too much direct competition.

• Read the full column in Saturday’s JEP