Plans served up for new food store on land at business park
Plans for a ‘food retail unit’ at a Seaham business park have been lodged with Durham County Council.
Earlier in May, the local authority received an application for a parcel of land within Spectrum Business Park, which is in the Dawdon ward.
This included outline planning permission to build a food retail unit with associated car parking and external seating on the site, on the outskirts of the town.
The application included details of access, layout and scale for the site, which is described as a ‘former bus turning circle and grassed area.’
A design and access statement submitted with the application said the proposed food retail unit would “serve and support the employment uses” at the business park.
It added that such facilities are required to help “further enhance [the business park’s] ongoing success.”
If approved, the 106 sqm single-storey unit would offer 13 parking spaces, including one accessible bay.
The design and access statement adds that the development would have close links to both the business park and public transport.
”There are currently no restrictions to parking on the main road,” the design and access statement reads.
“However we envisage the majority of people visiting the food/retail unit will be from the large existing office buildings on the business park and we anticipate a large number of customers will just walk to the food/ retail unit from these existing buildings.”
A ‘sequential assessment’ submitted with the planning application also confirmed that alternative town centre sites for the food retail unit had been considered.
It said that the proposed development had been “designed as a means to provide additional facilities to support the business park which would not compromise the main function of the business park nor would act as a retail destination in its own right.”
The document added that the unit could create between four and six jobs, plus extra job opportunities through supplying/servicing activities.
A final decision on the planning application is expected by early July 2021.
For more information on the application or to track its progress, visit Durham County Council’s planning portal and search reference: DM/21/01701/OUT