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The Pensions Trust Retail Statement Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester, GL4 4LP Planning Application to vary Condition 9 attached to Planning Permission: 98/0019/FUL August 2012 The Pensions Trust Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester Retail Statement savills.com/planning CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 2.0 SITE AND BACKGROUND ................................................................................. 4 3.0 RELEVANT PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT ...................................................... 6 4.0 HOME BARGAINS ............................................................................................ 12 5.0 SEQUENTIAL APPROACH TO SITE SELECTION .......................................... 15 6.0 ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL ................................... 30 7.0 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 43 APPENDICES 1. Plan Reference 02 – Indicative Proposed Floor Plan The Pensions Trust Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester Retail Statement savills.com/planning 1.0 INTRODUCTION Introduction 1.1 Savills has prepared this Retail Statement on behalf of The Pensions Trust as part of a planning application at the former Apollo 2000 retail unit at Unit 2b of 108 Eastern Avenue. The application is to vary Condition 9 attached to Planning Permission: 98/00119/FUL in order to enable Home Bargains to operate from the unit and bring it back into beneficial economic use. Application Proposal 1.2 The application seeks to vary Condition 9 attached to Planning Permission: 98/0019/FUL. The condition restricts the floorspace at the application site to be used for the sale of the following goods: • carpets • furnishings • electrical goods • pets and pet supplies • office equipment • DIY products for the maintenance and improvement of the home • garden • motor vehicle • any goods ancillary to the permitted uses 1.3 A proportion of the Home Bargains product range is compliant with the current goods restriction. However, Home Bargains require consent to allow the sale of an ancillary food and drink product range (approximately 30% of retail floorspace) and a wider non food offer. 1.4 The application does not propose any additional floorspace or external works to the retail unit (which would be subject to a subsequent application). Illustrative drawings of how we anticipate the unit would be broken up are included at Appendix 1. The drawings show a downsizing of the Staples unit and an enlarged Unit 2b of 1,115 sq.m (12,000 sq.ft). Otherwise the unit would be too small for Home Bargains. The Pensions Trust Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester Retail Statement savills.com/planning 1.5 As such, the application proposes the following additional condition to control the retail use of part of the site: In addition to the goods stated at Condition 9, the following additional categories of goods can be sold from a single unit not exceeding 1,115 sq.m (12,000 sq.ft), provided that no single category exceeds 20% of the floor space of the unit, other than (i) (food & drink), where the limit is 30%: a. Furniture b. Toys and games c. Travel goods d. Children and infants goods e. Sports and leisure goods f. Bicycle and bicycle accessories g. Toiletries and health and beauty products h. Household goods i. Food and drink Structure of the Statement 1.6 The Statement appraises the relevant retail planning issues relating to the proposed development and is structured as follows: Section 2.0: Site and Background: Provides details of the application site and the surrounding area and the planning history and policy allocation. Section 3.0: Relevant Planning Policy Context: Provides a review of the relevant policies within the NPPF relating to this proposal. Section 4.0: Home Bargains: Describes the business model and product range of the intended occupier. Section 5.0: Sequential Assessment: Provides an assessment of whether there are any sequentially preferable alternative sites that could accommodate the proposal. The Pensions Trust Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester Retail Statement savills.com/planning Section 6.0: Impact of the Proposed Development: Considers the impact that the proposed development could have on Gloucester City Centre and the other defined centres assessed by the criteria laid out in the NPPF. 1.7 Our overall conclusion is that: 1. The proposal is necessary to return the unit to beneficial use. 2. The proposal will not have a ‘significant adverse impact’ on Gloucester City Centre of any of the other defined centres. 3. There are no sequentially preferable sites that can accommodate the proposal. 4. The proposed development accords with the latest Government guidance which seeks to secure sustainable economic growth and sets out a clear presumption in favour of such development. 1.8 In the light of the above, we conclude that the proposal accords with the retails policies set out in NPPF. The Pensions Trust Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester Retail Statement savills.com/planning 2.0 SITE AND BACKGROUND Site Description The Application Site and Surrounding Area 2.1 The application site is the retail warehouse units at 108 Eastern Avenue Unit 2b currently measures approximately 647 sq.m and has been vacant since March 2009 when the retailer Apollo 2000 Limited ceased trading when it entered into administration. 2.2 The current configuration of the other units at is as follows: • Staples (Unit 1) 1,858 sq.m • Maplin (Unit 2a) 460 sq.m 2.3 As explained in the Introduction, please note a separate application would be required to reconfigure the units to provide 1,115 sq.m in Unit 2b for Home Bargains. 2.4 The site is accessed via the A38/Eastern Avenue, which is a principal route through Gloucester. 2.5 The site is located out-of-centre but within the area that is the principal location for retail warehouses in the City. Immediately adjacent to the north of 108 Eastern Avenue is Eastern Avenue Retail Park, which comprises: • Currys (Unit 1 & 2) 3,100 sq.m • Vacant (Unit 3) 930 sq.m • Harvey’s (Unit 4) 980 sq.m • Carpetright (Unit 5) 980 sq.m • Pizza Hut (Pod unit) 350 sq.m 2.6 A freestanding Lidl foodstore measuring 1,590 sq.m is located immediately adjacent to the south of the site. Immediately to the rear of the site is a Gloucester Cemeteries and Crematorium, Coney Hill. On the opposing side of Eastern Avenue is Eastern Avenue Trading Estate. The surrounding areas are predominantly housing estates with some additional retail warehousing extending along Eastern Avenue. For example, the Halfords store located on Eastern Avenue The Pensions Trust Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester Retail Statement savills.com/planning (1,050 sq.m), the Homebase unit located off Eastbrook Road (3,580 sq.m) and Gloucester Retail Park off Eastern Avenue, where current occupiers are XXX. Development Plan Allocation 2.7 The application site is unallocated within the Second Stage Deposit Local Plan 2002, which we understand is used by the LPA for development control purposes as an important material consideration. Retail Conditions and Relevant Planning History 2.8 The planning history relevant to the proposal is as follows: 1. On 14 July 1998 the Council granted planning permission: 98/00119/FUL for the ‘erection of building to provide 2 No Class A1 non-food retail units together with associated service area and parking’. The building sub-divided the unit to create Units 1 and 2. Condition 9 controls the retail use of the site, it states: “The retail units hereby permitted shall be used only for the sale of carpets, furnishings, electrical goods, pets and pet supplies, DIY products for the maintenance and improvement of the home, garden and motor vehicle, and any goods ancillary to these permitted uses and for no other purpose without the prior permission of the City Council”. Condition 10 stated that the units could not be sub-divided to create units of less than 929 sq.m. 2. On 7 July 2010 the Council granted planning permission: 10/00381/FUL for a ‘variation of Condition 10 of 98/00119/FUL to allow for the sub-division of Unit 2 into 2 units’. The permission enabled the sub-division of Unit 2 to form Units 2a and 2b measuring at ground floor level 461 sq.m and 697 sq.m respectively. 3. On 3 November 2010 the Council approved ‘minor amendments to planning permission ref. 10/00381/FUL comprising the re-positioning of internal sub-dividing wall, adjustments to approved mezzanine floor and re-positioning of internal stairs’. The repositioning of the internal sub-dividing wall to create units measuring 461 sq.m (GIA) (Unit 2a) and 650 sq.m (Unit 2b) (Ref. 10/01051/NMA). The Pensions Trust Former Apollo 2000 Store, Unit 2b 108 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester Retail Statement savills.com/planning 3.0 RELEVANT PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT The National Planning Policy Framework 3.1 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for England was published by the Government on 27 March 2012. The NPPF replaces over a thousand pages of previous planning policies with around fifty, and takes effect immediately. 3.2 The NPPF now replaces all its predecessors as planning policy documents. All Planning Policy Statements/Planning Policy Guidelines (PPS/PPG) are replaced [Annex 3 of the NPPF]. 3.3 It is important to note that the NPPF does not change the statutory basis on which planning decisions are founded. So, Section 38 (6) of the Planning and Compensation Act 2004 remains in full effect. Thus if regard is to be had to the “Development Plan” for the purposes of any determination, then that decision must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The plan-led system continues [paragraphs 11 and 12].