Ministers to have final say on retail park
Proposals include an Asda superstore
A controversial £20 million retail park planned for Stirling, including an Asda superstore, has been raised in the Scottish Parliament.
Speaking on Tuesday in Holyrood, MSP Mark Ruskell criticised the proposed development while speaking as part of a debate on the National Planning Framework.
The Green MSP claimed that the proposals for the controversial multi-million pound out-of-town retail development in Stirling would lock the community into car dependency, further damage the high street, and is at odds with the Scottish Government’s aspirations for 20-minute neighbourhoods.
In January Ramoyle Developments Ltd were granted permission for the new £20 million retail development south of the Wickes DIY store including offices, retail, drive-thru restaurant, car showroom and car parking which they said would net 250 full-time equivalent jobs and even be as many as 500 to 600 including construction jobs.
Although Stirling Council’s planning panel initially approved the planned retail park by four votes to two – contrary to the recommendation of the council’s planning officials.
But the Scottish Government recently called in the planning application for review.
Scottish Ministers will have the “final say” on the plans.
Scottish Green MSP Mr Ruskell has written to the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth urging the Minister to listen to concerns and reject the application.
Mr Ruskell said later: “This huge out-of-town retail development in Stirling is completely out of step with our collective ambition to build 20-minute neighbourhoods, restore the high street and address the climate crisis. Importantly,
Stirling Council’s decision to approve this development is also completely out of step with the public’s objection to the proposal.
“Communities, like those here in Stirling, need to be at the heart of decisions about where they live. We cannot let big businesses and developers call the shots on how investments are made in our neighbourhoods.
“This has to change. For now, I hope the Minister takes into account the views of the community and overturns the planning decision.”
Ministers are said to have called in the application as the proposal could have wider implications for retail policy across Scotland. The application will be examined by a DPEA reporter who will submit a report, with recommendation, to Scottish Ministers for their consideration and determination.
Stirling Council has already said it would not be appropriate to comment further pending the outcome of the process.
When the application went before Stirling Council’s planning panel in January, council planners said not enough up-to-date information had been used to show there would not be a negative impact on the city centre. Seventeen objections were also lodged, including from Springkerse Retail Park II and the Thistles shopping centre.
Representatives for the applicants, however, had said up-to-date factors had been taken into account and there was no likely prospect of securing the long stipulated bulky goods retail on the site, which had been marketed unsuccessfully for more than a decade.
A top retail expert later quit a council body seeking to boost city centre fortunes after the panel voted to approve the proposal.
Professor Leigh Sparks resigned from Stirling Council’s City Centre Working Group saying traders should feel “mightily let down” by the majority decision by the authority’s planning panel, adding: “The last thing the struggling Stirling city centre, especially coming out of the pandemic, needed was another carfocused development including an Asda, offices, car showroom and fast food and drive-thru on a greenfield site further away from the heart of Stirling than any other previous development.”
Readers who took to the Observer’s social media, however, had mixed views on the application’s approval.
Many were still concerned about the impact on the city centre, but others were keen to see the site developed, particularly with a new Asda.