Shropshire Star

Developer gets date for appeal on Newport supermarket

An appeal lodged by developers behind plans to transform a garden centre in Newport into a supermarket will be heard in March. London-based developer David Brierley has made the appeal.

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An appeal lodged by developers behind plans to transform a garden centre in Newport into a supermarket will be heard in March. London-based developer David Brierley has made the appeal.

He is asking the Planning Inspectorate to overturn a decision by Telford & Wrekin Council which limits the types of goods that can be sold at Mere Park Garden Centre, off the A41.

Today Mr Brierley said the appeal would be held on March 1 at a venue to be confirmed. If successful, he said the 20,000sq ft building would be converted into a supermarket and the garden centre would then move elsewhere on the site.

It is understood Tesco and Morrisons are interested in the site and the plans could create up to 200 jobs.

Mr Brierley said: "We're hopeful it will be resolved in our favour fairly quickly and should help to bring clarity to all the proposed developments in Newport."

He this week submitted a fresh planning application to lift the restrictions on the building in the hope the council will allow it to become a supermarket without the need for an appeal.

There are currently two other applications for supermarkets in Newport – one for a 60,000sq ft store on Station Road and another for a 33,000sq ft shop on Audley Avenue.

Save Newport Campaign Group member and Newport Regeneration Partnership chairman David Parker said: "We live in interesting times.

"We look forward to the clarification that the appeal will bring to the situation."

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