Sainsbury’s amends Carlisle store design to appease planners
Last updated at 13:55, Monday, 05 October 2009
Sainsbury's says it will add a new two-storey building to its plans for a £40 million store in Carlisle to appease design chiefs.
The supermarket chain met with the city council and MP Eric Martlew in the past few days to work on concerns voiced by both.
Renaissance urban design officer Roger Higgin, council conservation chief Peter Messenger and Mr Martlew have all criticised the plans which they said were not in-keeping with the area and ‘wholly inappropriate’ design-wise.
Jo Try, of the Sainsbury’s development team, said: “We’ve been working hard on a solution of how to treat the street frontage along Bridge Street.
“We’re confident we can make the necessary adjustments to the proposals now. This will entail adding a new two-storey building on the corner of Bridge Lane and Willowholme Lane. This is likely to be a couple of shops – not Sainsbury’s – which would be let on the open market.”
She said there would also be office space above the shops, with could be ‘ideal for local businesses.’
“We’re still working on the design but it will be of a style and scale to compliment the existing buildings,” Miss Try added.
“We will also introduce a stone wall and additional landscaping to the front of the site. The combined effect of all these will provide the ‘closure’ and a streetscape that the council and Mr Martlew asked for.”
It emerged on Friday that the Caldewgate area Sainsbury’s want to build on is not designated for retail use under the council’s Local Plan.
Sainsbury’s said their plans for Caldewgate were backed by ‘overwhelming’ public support and that the land was designated for a mix of retail and employment.
First published at 11:35, Monday, 05 October 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
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And surprise surprise we read that Tesco is "The frontrunner for the site in Morton". What is it about Tesco that itstrangely manages to have such a hold? They have a store already and according to the Competitions Commission report last week there should not be a monopoly anywhere. Why is there such suspicion of another competitor?
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Given te inevitability that a supermarket will be built west of the city centre, surely a 'brownfield' site on Caldewgate is to be preferred to a greenfield site on the outskirts? If renaissance means what it is supposed to, then the City centre needs to be a business and retail centre, not a museum-cum ghost town. By all means improve the design - but let's have it in Caldewgate and not in the countryside!
Posted by RC on 7 October 2009 at 12:50