M&S bid for new £10.1m store should be ‘refused’
HYNDBURN Council’s planning committee has been recommended by officers to refuse an application for a new Marks and Spencer’s (M&S) store.
Full planning permission is sought for the erection of a new M&S Food retail store with associated car parking at Frontier Park, Frontier Avenue, Rishton.
The application by the Issa brothers property arm Monte Blackburn Ltd,which owns the out of town retail estate, to build the store was due to be debated by councillors on Hyndburn Council’s planning committee on Wednesday.
Monte Blackburn Ltd has proposed a new state-of-the-art base for the upmarket shopping chain on the multi-million pound development in Rishton.
In November M&S announced it was planning on vacating its current site in the heart of Blackburn town centre in King William Street.
But last Wednesday it emerged Hyndburn Council’s planning committee had been recommended by officers’ to refuse the application for the £10.1million store.
M&S is proposing to move into a purpose-built larger store with a new food hall on Frontier Park.
All 120 staff would be offered jobs at the new site which would be dou
ble the size of the existing one if the move goes ahead.
But a planning officers’ report to the planning committee meeting urged refusal on the grounds there are better alternative sites for the development in the area.
It notes an objection from Blackburn with Darwen Council which suggests alternative sites for the new M&S store on Carl Fogarty Way and on the location on the former Thwaites Brewery land originally earmarked for a new Morrison’s superstore before the supermarket chain pulled out of the move last month.
There are also objections from a nearby resident and Tesco.
The committee report says: “Full planning permission is sought for the erection of a new M&S Food retail store with associated car parking at Frontier Park, Frontier Avenue, Rishton.
“The application site measures 0.8 hectares within the wider development of Frontier Park which includes a number of large employment units as well as a roadside services with drivethru restaurants and coffee shop, and a hotel.
“With the exception of the application site, the wider Frontier Park site has been built out. To the north is the Hampton by Hilton hotel.
“To the east is the BP petrol filling station alongside a number of food and drink establishments including Greggs, Starbucks and Subway.
“The building would have a contemporary appearance faced externally with a modern cladding system in keeping with the appearance of the surrounding buildings.
“The site is located on the boundary of Hyndburn and is approximately 2.5kilometres to the east of Blackburn town centre and to the south of Whitebirk Roundabout, which provides access to Junction 6 of the M65.
“At present, the site is undeveloped land which has planning approval for a circa. 1,400 capacity conference centre. The proposal comprises the erection of a new food store with a gross internal floor area of 2,011 square metres of which 1,424sq m would be retail sales area.
“The proposed operator for the unit is M&S, who recently announced the impending closure of their Blackburn town centre store, King William Street.
“The proposed M&S Food store is aimed at supporting the business model which seeks to accelerate the number of new M&S Foodhalls, whilst providing clothing and home offer via their instore click and collect facilities.
“The conclusion is that permission in principle be refused for the following reasons: the council considers that there are preferable sites which are available, suitable and viable for the proposed development and therefore the application fails to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the sequential test as set out in policy.”
Monte Blackburn Ltd has made clear it will seek to persuade councillors to overturn that recommendation with the backing of M&S who say that building the new store is vital to them remaining in the town.
A statement from the company says: “We believe this development will have a positive impact on the local economy, boosting the local supply chain and fostering entrepreneurship, whilst also providing additional business rates to the borough.
“Our application demonstrates that there will be limited impact on neighbouring centres and the other sites suggested as being more suited, have all been considered and rejected as being unsuitable for a number of reasons, not least that M&S has considered but rejected them all.
“We will continue to strive to secure the necessary approvals for the project with our partners to demonstrate that the benefits of our proposals outweigh the sole technical drawback.”
An M&S spokesman said: “We believe this is the best location to deliver a brand-defining new M&S Foodhall in Blackburn, guaranteeing the future of M&S in the town.
“With shopping habits changing, we need to have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space.
“Along with our partners at Monte Blackburn, we don’t think the benefits of the scheme have been adequately addressed in the planning review and there is still a great opportunity to secure the fantastic economic and social benefits of the £10.1m scheme.
“However should the application be refused by Hyndburn councillors, it is likely that M&S will leave Blackburn.”
The planning officers’ report says: “The conclusion is that permission in principle be refused.”