Issue - meetings

CWP PROPERTY: APPLICATION FOR ERECTION OF A SUPERMARKET: 361 ARGYLL STREET, DUNOON (REF: 10/00222/PPP)

Meeting: 21/12/2011 - Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (Item 6)

6 CWP PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT: ERECTION OF CLASS 1 FOODSTORE WITH ASSOCIATED DEVELOPMENT TO INCLUDE CAR PARKING, ACCESS ROAD, ROAD BRIDGE, PETROL FILLING STATION AND ENGINEERING WORKS: 361 ARGYLL STREET, DUNOON (REF: 10/00222/PPP) PDF 103 KB

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

At its meeting on 9 November 2011 the PPSL Committee agreed to continue consideration of this Application in view of the decision reached at the PAN 41 Hearing in respect of the National Grid Application (Ref: 11/00689/PPP) and that it would be dealt with again when considering the National Grid Application.

The Development Manager spoke to the terms of supplementary report 8 which confirmed receipt of a letter of objection (dated 8 December 2011) from the Commercial Property Manager of National Grid Property which was circulated to Members. Further information forwarded to the Head of Governance and Law in an email dated 20 December 2011 by the Applicant was also circulated to Members at the meeting. The Development Manager advised that in view of the decision made by Members in respect of the National Grid Application (Reference: 11/00689/PPP), he recommended refusal of this application for reasons 1, 3 and 4 detailed in the original report and that reason 2 in respect of the sequential test no longer applied.

Motion

That planning permission be refused for reasons 1, 3 and 4 detailed in the Planner’s original report dated 4 March 2011.

Moved by Councillor Daniel Kelly, seconded by Councillor Donald MacMillan.

Amendment

1. That in terms of the sequential test given that the National Grid site has been refused the site is now the sequentially preferable site for Dunoon and so consistent with Policy.

2. In terms of the significant impact on the retail centre of Dunoon as identified by the Applicant’s retail impact assessment, it is considered that Dunoon town centre has a range of retail outlets, many of which are operated by locally based independent businesses and, as such, many are assessed to be fragile businesses unlikely to be able to withstand significant downturn in revenue from competition from an out of centre supermarket selling comparison goods. It is assessed that if there was a reduction in leakage of spend and if the town centre was made more attractive to shoppers, creating a more modern environment that would attract shoppers and tourists to frequent the town centre, then the identified negative impact would be offset by these factors and, as such, would make the impact justifiable as a minor departure from the development plan policy and together with the mitigation measures proposed would assist in sustaining the town centre with a limited adverse impact and, as such, would be a justified departure to policies STRAT S1, STRAT DC1, PROP SET 2 PROP SET 3, PROP SET 4 of the Structure Plan and policies ENV 1, ENV19 and P/PDA 1 of the Local Plan. It is my view that some niche suppliers and those selling established locally branded goods will be better placed to withstand such competition whilst others will need to reposition themselves to capitalise on the increased opportunities that reducing leakage of spend to the Gourock/Glasgow conurbation will provide. It is perceived that a new retail store that would reduce that leakage would have less of an impact on the retail centre than a smaller outlet which did not reduce that leakage on the basis that it would retain shoppers in the Dunoon area and attract shoppers from the wider Cowal and Bute area who would frequent not only the new retail store but would also be drawn to an improved town centre shopping area: thus a store of the scale of 40,000 square feet is judged to be of sufficient scale to reduce the leakage and to retain and redirect that lost revenue into the Cowal economy. In addition any such store will have a greater impact on the two existing supermarkets in Dunoon which are assessed as being more able to withstand the increased competition and that this increased competition will be of positive benefit to the economy of Dunoon as competition will be likely to reduce prices with increased future reduction of leakage to other retail centres and an increased spend available for non convenience goods in the Cowal area. It is further accepted that there will be some negative impact on the town centre retail area and in mitigation of this a sum of £276,000 should be provided to the Dunoon town centre CHORD project for public realm works to create a more modern and inviting retail centre that would assist with the retention of small independent shops in the town centre, and support a transitional period as the town centre adjusts to the changed opportunities that will arise from the development.

3. That the Applicant’s be required to enter into a section 75 agreement in the following terms namely

an undertaking to pay the sums identified by the District Valuer in compensation for the loss of affordable housing in accordance with policy hou2 and that such sum be paid prior to the commencement of development on the site to the Council strategic housing fund; and for the avoidance of doubt that such sum as may be calculated by the district valuer at his instance only shall not be subject to challenge by the applicants;

that in mitigation of the limited adverse impact on the retail centre of Dunoon that a commuted sum of £276,000 be paid by the Applicants to the Council for them to undertake public realm works, and any other works deemed appropriate by the Council to maintain the viability and vitality of Dunoon town centre by the Dunoon town centre CHORD project. Such works to improve the public space and infrastructure associated with the retail centre of the town to create a more vibrant and modern appearance to the retail area which will attract customers to the retail outlets in the town centre. For the avoidance of doubt the payment shall be made prior to the commencement of development.

4. That in respect of the detailed design of the store and any associated engineering operations, the concerns around the positioning of the retail buildings is endorsed and therefore the design scheme for the development should seek to minimise the ... view the full minutes text for item 6

Meeting: 09/11/2011 - Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (Item 4)

4 CWP PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMANT: ERECTION OF CLASS 1 FOODSTORE WITH ASSOCIATED DEVELOPMENT TO INCLUDE CAR PARKING, ACCESS ROAD, ROAD BRIDGE, PETROL FILLING STATION AND ENGINEERING WORKS: 361 ARGYLL STREET, DUNOON (REF: 10/00222/PPP) PDF 94 KB

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Agreed to continue consideration of this application due to the decision reached on the National Grid application and that this would be dealt with again when considering the National Grid application.

(Reference: Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services dated 4 March 2011, supplementary planning report 1 dated 15 March 2011, supplementary report 2 dated 30 March 2011, supplementary report 3 dated 7 April 2011, supplementary report 4 dated 9 May 2011, supplementary report 5 dated 8 September 2011, supplementary report 6 dated 19 September 2011, issued and supplementary report 7 dated 8 November 2011, tabled)

Meeting: 21/09/2011 - Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (Item 6)

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee resumed consideration of this application which was the subject of a hearing on 8 April 2011. At a subsequent meeting of the Committee on 18 May 2011 it had been agreed to continue determination of the application to allow for consideration of planning application number 11/00689/PPP relating to a further application for a supermarket on another site in the town and to allow for assessment of that site’s availability and deliverability.

Mr Reppke reminded the Committee that Councillors Dance, Reay and Chalmers would not be able to participate in the debate of this application as they had not been present at the hearing when this application was considered.

The Development Manager spoke to the terms of supplementary planning report no 5 advising that a further letter of support had been received from Mr and Mrs Baldock since the circulation of supplementary planning report 4. This report also provided clarification regarding the gas works site and application and on planning gain matters which had been offered verbally by the applicant during the hearing. The Development Manager also spoke to the terms of supplementary planning report no 6 which was tabled at the meeting and referred to further emails issued to the Council by the Applicant and their specialist agent relating to retail impact matters relevant to their own site and flooding matters at the National Grid application over his own. The Development Manager recommended refusal of the application for the reasons detailed in his original report.

Decision

Agreed to continue consideration of this application until after the hearing and determination of the application by National Grid Property (planning ref: 11/00689/PPP).

(Reference: Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services dated 4 March 2011, Supplementary Report 1 dated 15 March 2011, Supplementary Report 2 dated 30 March 2011, Supplementary Report 3 dated 7 April 2011, Supplementary Report 4 dated 9 May 2011, Supplementary Report 5 dated 8 September 2011, submitted and Supplementary Report 6 dated 19 September 2011, tabled)

Meeting: 08/04/2011 - Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (Item 3)

3 CWP PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT: APPLICATION FOR ERECTION OF A CLASS 1 FOODSTORE WITH ASSOCIATED DEVELOPMENT TO INCLUDE CAR PARKING, ACCESS ROAD, ROAD BRIDGE, FILLING STATION AND ENGINEERING WORKS: 361 ARGYLL STREET, DUNOON (REF: 10/00222/PPP) PDF 55 KB

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone present to the meeting and invited the Committee to introduce themselves.

The Area Manager, Customer Services advised the Chair seven further letters of support and one letter of objection had been submitted since the agenda for this meeting had been issued. These were set out in supplementary report no.3 dated 7^th April 2011. Having noted that these further letters of representation raised no new issues it was agreed to circulate the aforesaid report.

The Area Manager, Customer Services outlined the procedure that would be followed during the meeting and invited those who wished to address the Committee to identify themselves.

Planning Authority

The Area Team Leader, Development Management advised that the application before the Committee was for the erection of Class 1 food store with associated development to include car parking, access road, road bridge, petrol filling station and engineering works on the existing Walkers Garden Centre and land at the rear. The application is for Planning Permission in Principle which used to be outline planning permission. Major development should explain proposals and take the views of the public, this has been done. The application has been supported by pre-application consultation report and consultation report stage II, design and access statement, planning and retail statement, transport assessment, flood risk assessment and site flooding/sustainable drainage overview study and an ecology report. There are no objections from Consultees which can’t be addressed by planning conditions. There has been 915 letters of objection and 1091 letters of support of which many are standard letters. The application site lies within the Main Town settlement zone of Dunoon, as defined in the Argyll and Bute Local Plan. The application site included the eastern half of Potential Development Area 2/5 ‘Dunloskin’ that is identified in the Local Plan for medium density housing with 25% affordability. The Area Team Leader spoke on the Retail Statement advising that the available expenditure in Dunoon catchment is £74million, the convenience expenditure is £32million and ¹/₃ of the locally derived expenditure is ‘leaked’ out with the catchment. The proposed store will have a turnover of £17.8m comprising £12.9m convenience and £4.8m comparison goods. The trade diversion to the town centre is £3.1m and if you base this on the larger store it will reduce the convenience leakage from £11m to £4m therefore if you build a bigger store it will stop people from leaving Dunoon to shop. A smaller foodstore may meet policy criteria and be sequentially preferable, the overall impact of 9.1% is considered significant and he recommends that planning permission be refused for the reasons set out in the report.

Applicant

Mr Bruce Weir said CWP are a Scottish based development company specialising in food stores for rural areas. He said they had obtained planning permission for stores in Kelso and Kirriemuir. Mr Weir advised that his company works with the 5 major supermarkets (ASDA, Morrison’s, CWS, Sainsbury’s and Tesco) and that 3 of these operators are under scope for a 40,000sq.ft. store with good car parking and a filling station. Mr Weir said that Dunoon has a large population, very many of whom spend their money outwith the area and it was realised that the demand and money was going to Inverclyde and beyond. Mr Weir spoke on site selection advising that they having analysed the town and the catchment area and the optimum store size had been determined to be 40-45,000sq.ft. with car park and filling station. He advised that the Walker family store will be relocated into Dunoon and that the proposed development would not adversely affect the housing development at Dunloskin Farm. He said the foodstore would be a catalyst for the housing in terms of the provision of a bridge over the Milton Burn. Mr Weir spoke on the new planning legislation advising that he had undertaken public consultation, commencing in January 2010, three months prior to the planning application being submitted, and continued until today. He had an online petition and a Facebook page along with job creations with Jobcentre plus and has over 2000 names of support. Mr Weir said he was confused over the amount of objections because at the PPSL meeting there had only been 30 objections, 95% of which object to the non-food goods that are currently sold in the high street. Mr Weir asserted that there is capacity for further non-food retail in Dunoon.

Mr Alex Mitchell said he was a planning adviser for James Barr. He advised that the Planning Service’s approach to the Campbeltown supermarket development gave him some comfort, but that the same approach has not been used in respect of the Dunoon proposal. Mr Mitchell said that the key factors of the planning permission in Campbeltown are the same as Dunoon. He referred to the reasons for refusal set out in the report, saying that significant weight is given to the National Grid site, but the fact that this area exists is not enough, it has to be available. He asserted that the National Grid site is neither better nor suitable. The Retail Impact Assessment must be able to show the alternative site is able to do the same as that proposed. The National Grid site has a major flooding issue, it would only fit a 20,000sqft store and doesn’t have a petrol station. Mr Mitchell said the size of the store is key, Cowal has significant leakage of £11m per annum and this size of store will arrest this leakage by clawing back £7m. Mr Mitchell said the applicant has agreed a contribution towards the CHORD project. He referred to the loss of affordable housing, advising that the applicant is happy to address the shortfall by way of commuted payment. Mr Mitchell said that all of the issues raised in the reasons for refusal could be addressed by conditions.

Mr Weir said that the main contactor for the building of the store will sub-contract to firms in the local area. He said at the moment ... view the full minutes text for item 3

Meeting: 16/03/2011 - Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (Item 5)

5 CWP PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT: APPLICATION FOR ERECTION OF A CLASS 1 FOODSTORE WITH ASSOCIATED DEVELOPMENT TO INCLUDE CAR PARKING, ACCESS ROAD, ROAD BRIDGE, FILLING STATION AND ENGINEERING WORKS: 361 ARGYLL STREET, DUNOON (REF: 10/00222/PPP) PDF 292 KB

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Planning and Regulatory Services presented the report and also supplementary report 1 that had been tabled at the meeting. The supplementary report confirmed receipt of late letters of representation. He advised that the application was recommended for refusal for the reasons set out in his report subject to a discretionary local hearing being held due to the large number of representations that had been received.

Decision

Agreed to hold a discretionary hearing at a date and time to be determined.

(Reference: Report by head of Planning and Regulatory Services dated 4 March 2011, submitted and Supplementary Report 1 dated 15 March 2011, tabled)