Plans for a new supermarket under student accommodation
TESCO EXPRESS STORE COULD BE BUILT AT CITY CENTRE’S BISHOP GATE COMPLEX
COVENTRY could be set to welcome a new supermarket to the city centre - and it would be located underneath one of the towering student accommodation blocks.
Plans submitted to the council’s planning website on Friday (November 1) show an application to install both illuminated and non illuminated signs at the empty retail unit below the Bishop Gate student accommodation - on the site of the old Royal Mail building.
On closer inspection, the documents reveal the signs are to advertise the new store coming to the site - a Tesco Express.
It was thought that a supermarket would join the Bishop Gate complex after it opened in 2018 - with the approved planning application for the site including two commercial units on the ground floor.
However, for the last 12 months, there has been no signs to suggest that any change was underfoot.
The planning documents, submitted to Coventry City Council ‘s planning department, show that if approved, the Tesco store will be located on the southwestern corner of the site, opposite the car park to the rear of Pure Gym.
It is not thought that a planning application is required for the supermarket itself - as this was covered in the overall plans for Bishop Gate.
As such, approval for the signage is believed to be the only thing standing in the way of the new store receiving the green light.
But without the need for a full application to be submitted, it is not known the proposed opening times for the store, the proposed number of employees, or even how the store might be expected to look.
A decision on this planning application is expected by December 30.