Discount store at Christchurch retail park (From Bournemouth Echo)

Discount store at Christchurch retail park

7:00pm Wednesday 1st July 2009

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CHRISTCHURCH Borough Council has given the green light to a proposal which could allow a discount supermarket to trade at the Bailey Retail Park in Barrack Road.

Although a retailer has not been named yet, the applicant Aviva Investors has applied for a variation to planning rules in order to allow a wider variety of goods to trade from the outlet.

Currently the council prohibits the sale of food, alcohol, tobacco, clothing and footwear, chemist goods, jewellery, books, newspapers and magazines as well as toys and crockery and glassware from the site at the Bailey Retail Park.

But the proposal is asking that the terms be amended to widen the range of goods which can be sold, to include a discount retailer.

Until now, there has been limited interest in the unit because of the restrictions.

And despite the council planning department and committee already granting permission for Aldi and Lidl to move into two premises in Somerford, the latest applicants believe there will be enough business for everyone.

In a planning statement, agents Iceni Projects Ltd says the store would draw in shoppers from different areas of town and therefore not affect the two stores in Somerford when they start operating.

The statement also says that by placing a store at the retail park the shop would be able to “claw back expenditure which is currently lost out of the borough”.

It adds: “Only a very minor proportion of trade would be diverted from Christchurch town centre and accordingly the impact on Christchurch and the other districts within the catchment would be minimal.”

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