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Casebook: Retail development - Home store site search held insufficient

Retail development

Planning, 18 July 2008

Prudential Assurance has failed in a bid to vary the terms of a condition restricting the range of goods which can be sold at a Hampshire retail park after an inspector held that sequentially preferable sites were available for a Next store.

The condition limited the goods sold from various units on the park to bulky items as defined in a council development brief. The appellants had agreed terms with Next to operate a 2,170m2 home store. The appellants explained that a thorough examination of potential locations in and adjacent to town centres in the main catchment area had identified five sites but none were suitable, available and viable for this type of development.

The inspector agreed that there was a clear-cut quantitative need for the scheme based on a ten-minute drive time catchment area. However, she was less convinced of the lack of alternative sites and found no evidence to clearly demonstrate that they would not become available in a reasonable period of time.

She also supported the local authority's fears about setting a precedent. She was concerned that permitting the variation might encourage further applications to relax such conditions, allowing a wider range of goods to be sold at the park. The cumulative effect of such an outcome would undermine the vitality and viability of a nearby town centre, she decided.

DCS Number 100-056-050

Inspector Jessica Graham; Inquiry.