Issue - meetings

This application was for the erection of food store including the creation of new vehicle access, parking and associated landscaping and land on the corner of Colliers Way/Rock Road, The Rock, Telford, Shropshire.

The application was before Planning Committee as it involved land owned by the Council and required a legal agreement to secure financial contributions.

An update report was tabled at the meeting and informed members of a further objection received which reiterated comments previously made by Knight Frank on behalf of Telford Trustees No1 Ltd and Telford Trustees No 2 Ltd (‘the Trustees’) and included that the development was contrary to local and national planning policy and would have an adverse impact on the Town Centre, out of date evidence was used to assess the impact and inadequacies of the Applicant’s Town Centre Health Checks and the Sequential Test and that the applicant failed to address the cumulative impact of the proposed development.

Mr I Minto, landowner (of a large proportion of the Telford Town Centre) and member of public, spoke against the application raising concerns regarding the development in respect of local and national planning policy to protect the Town Centre on both this application and the proposed application at The Forge Retail Park and inaccuracies of the sequential testing.  He felt that alternative sites of the Blue Willow or Lime Green car parks needed further time for investigations into land ownership and car park usage to take place and it was premature to bring the application to committee.   He felt that this application could set a precedent for out of town use with shops moving away from the Town Centre.

Ms J White, Applicant’s Agent, spoke in favour of the application and informed Members that the principle of development has already been established with planning permission having previously been granted on this site for an alternative use, and there were no objections in respect of access or highways impact.  It gave consumers additional choice within easy walking distance and the lack of need was not a planning policy test.  In respect of sequential tests on other sites, Ms White confirmed that the Trustees did not own the access to the car parks and they were not adopted and these car parks would not be available within a reasonable time period.  There would be a substantial enhancement to the Green Network and the development was easily accessible by pedestrian and cyclists and it would create 40 new jobs. 

The Planning Officer informed Members that this application was a full application for a food store.  Policy EC5 sought to prioritise retail within the town centre and other centres and outside of these areas a sequential test must be undertaken.  Upon submission, a retail and planning statement had been submitted and the applicants considered that were no alternative sequential sites.  The Council sought independent advice from Retail Planning specialists on this statement, and a Town Centre health check was undertaken to update the Councils Retail Study (2014).  ...  view the full minutes text for item 352