Petrol station plea over Newport store wars
A planning expert has urged the inspector who will oversee the appeal into plans to build a Sainsbury's store on green fields in Newport to ask developers to reveal whether or not they would put a filling station at the site.
Nathalie Lieven, of Indigo Planning, who has permission to build a store on a brownfield site off Audley Avenue, was speaking at a preliminary planning inquiry meeting into plans for Station Road yesterday.
Planning inspector Mel Middleton had called the meeting with representatives from developers and applicants St Modwen, landowner and planning authority Telford & Wrekin Council and residents' group Save Newport Campaign to discuss the upcoming planning inquiry.
It will be the second planning inquiry into the application, which was initially submitted in 2011. The first inquiry took place in 2013 but did not finish as the inspector died. Mr Middleton stressed the new inquiry, which will start on January 20, 2015, would be a new process and would not be "finishing off" the first inquiry.
He urged third parties who wrote to the inspector last year to get in touch again.
Ms Lieven said: "The site of Station Road is owned by the council and we know that there is some form of contract between Sainsbury's, St Modwen and the council but we know no more than that.
"We are interested in the planning issues and whether under that contract there is an obligation on St Modwen or Telford & Wrekin Council to deliver a petrol filling station on the site and whether there is the ability of Sainsbury's to proceed with such a big store. We are confident that Sainsbury's will not proceed with it, in fact, we would be astonished if they proceeded with this without a petrol filling station on site.
"If this is the plan, we are concerned this application is incomplete and is being proceeded with on a false basis."
On behalf of the applicant, James Corbett Burcher did not reveal whether or not any document would be provided.
