Retailer signs up for Fosse Park extension
Debenhams wants to open new store
DEBENHAMS is the latest name to sign up for the proposed £150m extension to Fosse Park.
Called Castle Acres, the 12.5 acre retail complex is yet to be given the green light by Blaby District Council.
It would be built on the site currently occupied by the Everards brewery.
Planners are still considering concerns that a huge new shopping development, with free parking, could trigger the flight of customers and then major stores from Leicester city centre.
Debenhams’ director of property Robert Hadfield has recently written to planners at Blaby council to make assurances its Castle Acres store would not be a threat to the one it operates already in the city’s Highcross shopping centre.
He said the company had agreed the main terms of a deal to take up one of the Castle Acres anchor units - alongside Next and TK Maxx - and were ‘in the hands of solicitors’.
Leicester City Council has warned the size and location of Castle Acres could poach trade from the city centre.
City council planning director Grant Butterworth said: “Leicester city centre is a strong and improving city centre, which has benefitted from significant investment from retailers and improvements to the public realm in recent years, strengthening the city’s standing as a regional centre.
“In this context the city council is very concerned that the size and location of this proposed major outof-centre retail development next to Fosse Retail Park will impact negatively upon the future development of Leicester city centre without appropriate mitigation.”
The city council has asked the district council to, if it grants permission for the Fosse Park expansion, to impose conditions which would see Everards forced to pay for city centre improvements to make it better for shoppers.
The city council also wants measures to reduce the environmental impact of greater traffic on Narborough Road which links the city centre to Fosse Park.
Both Next and TK Maxx have said they are committed to keeping their city centre stores and Mr Hadfield says that is also the case for Debenhams.
He said: “Leicester is a successful city centre and has consistently been a strong trading destination for Debenhams.
“Our new Castle Acres store will complement our existing representation and we have no intention of closing our city centre store.
“There has been a significant structural shift in how the consumer shops with the advent of multichannel retailing.
“Our store at Castle Acres will appeal to customers in a different way to the experience of the city centre.”
Blaby council is expected to decide whether to approve the Castle Acres scheme later this month or in September.
The plan is for Fosse Park to pay to relocate the brewery to the other side of Soar Valley Way – a move which has already been granted planning permission.
Castle Acres would have 26 shops in total
Crown Estates, the owners of Fosse Park would buy the extension to their own retail park.
They estimate the new development would create about 2,140 jobs and add £2.5 million per year to the pockets of councils through the portion of business rates that are retained locally.