Shropshire Star

Morrisons lodges plans at last for eyesore Oswestry site

New plans for a Morrisons superstore and smaller retail stores on an eyesore Oswestry site have finally been submitted to Shropshire Council.

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The eyesore site

Morrisons has applied for a new permission for a food store, petrol station, car wash and 'retail pods'.

It comes seven years after plans to develop the land on Shrewsbury Road were originally given the-go ahead and three years after they collapsed.

The development is expected to create around 60 new full and part-time jobs.

Oswestry's current Morrisons is in Oswald Road in the town centre.

In leaflets sent to local residents during a pre-application consultation the company said the supermarket would include a barista cafe.

If permission is granted for the new supermarket, resident were told, staff from the current town centre store would move to the new site on Shrewsbury Road.

The site is on the remaining balance of land following the relocation of the Oswestry livestock market.

The Smithfield Market opened a new, state-of-the-art complex with has proved popular with regional farmers.

Footfall

In the masterplan the the remaining land was earmarked for a £45 million retail and leisure project which was to have included a cinema and restaurants. But when Cineworld pulled out the plan collapsed and the site has become an eyesore.

Oswestry Town Council, which leased the land to Morrisons, has been in talks with the food store giant to see the land back in use.

New plans are only for a section of that unused land.

A report by architects, Whittam Cox, to Shropshire Council looks at the effect the supermarket would have on Oswestry town centre.

"Our findings have shown that Oswestry’s town centre is performing well, with a high footfall of visitors," the report says.

"It is considered that the provision of a new Morrisons store will enhance the retail offer of Oswestry, providing a larger, modern supermarket on an easily accessible, brownfield site.

"Given the previous approval, the principle of a food store at this location has therefore been found to be acceptable."

Morrisons says that the larger store would enable it to sell more goods including its Nutmeg range of clothing.

It says it has consulted with local people by distributing leaflets to over 2,000 businesses, residents and stakeholders and putting hundreds more into the existing Morrisons store.