Asda store plan put on hold
Thursday 17th December 2009, 10:37AM GMT.
An artist's impression of the new Telford development
Multi-million pound plans to build a giant Asda superstore on the outskirts of Telford town centre have been put on hold after a number of late objections to the controversial scheme.
The retail giant had been hoping to receive backing to build a 7,897 sq m superstore, petrol station and 500-space car park on the site of Telford & Wrekin Council’s civic offices.
That application – and another from Asda for outline planning permission to build 79 homes next to the development — was due to be decided upon by the council’s plans board at a meeting last night.
But members voted to defer decisions on both applications after hearing of the late objections.
Committee chairman, Councillor Ian Fletcher, told the meeting: “I was contacted by the legal team on the council who informed me a number of late objections had been received.
“They were received within the time limit, and to ensure that these objections are properly considered I propose that we defer these two applications to come back to us at the earliest period of time in January.”
Telford & Wrekin Council head of planning Michael Barker said: “We must be fair to all parties concerned and we want to give the applicants time to consider and respond to the issues that have been raised.”
The council’s multi-million pound sale of the civic offices to Asda is dependent on planning permission being granted.
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so if asda cant build the new store then the council need a new buyer for the civic offices and they may move from the town centre altogether
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Who is behind these objections? Are they valid concerns or not?
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Matt, I’d guess that most of the objections are for two reasons. The first is that technically the site lies outside of the designated Primary Retail Area of Telford, planning policy is weighted to favour locations within this area for large retail developments unless there are no alternatives. The owners of the shopping centre by applying for permission for a new supermarket are aiming to prove that there are development opportunities within the retail area and that therefore the site of the council offices is sequentially inferior and on that basis the application should be refused. This is a fairly weak argument if you ask me considering the council is trying to enlarge the retail area to include this site and the whole of Southwater within a larger retail area.
The second reason would be the nondescript design, unsuitable within a town centre falling far short of the deired urban design standards both locally and nationally. This is a far stronger argument in my opinon and both historic and emerging planning policy would support rejection on that basis and the council should either strongly encourage changes to the design or reject it outright.
Sorry, I got carried away again but I really hate this proposal.
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