Plans for a 10,000 sq ft expansion at Highbridge’s Asda store were last night (Monday) given approval by town councillors as a bid for £100,000 of funding to compensate for the development was unveiled.
As first reported here in January, Asda wants to refurbish its Caxton Road store and expand it with a new mezzanine floor for a cafe and extra space for more products.
Members of the Town Council’s Planning Applications Committee unanimously gave the plans their backing, saying it would create jobs and be popular with shoppers.
Cllr Peter Burridge-Clayton gave his backing to the scheme. “I support it in principal given that Asda’s own survey of shoppers showed unanimous backing.”
Cllr Paul Young added: “I support the application – Asda is just about the only major retail outlet in Highbridge and it provides a lot of jobs. I feel we should support the store.”
And Cllr Pat Burge concluded: “There is only cafe in Highbridge and I can’t see Asda’s cafe affecting them too much. I’m all in favour of the application.”
The meeting also heard concerns from traders in the area that the expansion will have a negative impact on businesses.
Alex Turco, representing Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade, outlined the fears. “While the Chamber does not represent businesses in Highbridge, the Chamber has a strong interest in this application because it is in the same parish and will have an impact on its members and the wider Burnham business community.”
“Asda’s own Retail Impact Assessment identifies that there will be a transfer of £1.4million per year of business from Burnham-on-Sea businesses to the applicant’s development. This is not consistent with the well-being of the Burnham business community, which is a Chamber objective.”
“Whilst acknowledging that it is reasonable to expect that Tesco, Lidl and Morrisons may be the main contributors to this turnover transfer, the ‘trickle down’ effect from the three Burnham supermarkets to the Town Centre should not be under-estimated. Any loss of custom and businesses to the three supermarkets will reduce Town Centre business.”
“For the smaller, independent businesses which the Chamber represents, a small loss can be the difference between staying in business and not being in business. Therefore, any development that questions the viability of Burnham Town Centre businesses cannot be supported by the Chamber.”
He added: “The Chamber is particularly concerned about the introduction of a café since this service is not presently provided by the applicant and the Retail Impact Assessment acknowledges that the large number of cafes in Burnham and the absence of cafes in any of the three Burnham supermarkets.”
“It is important for town centres to give customers the ‘four mores’ in an era of internet and out of town shopping. Town Centres must give more people, more reason to spend more money, more often. One of the ways this is achieved is through being places encouraging socialisation. This is achieved by having venues for people to meet, such as cafes.”
“Whilst competition is not a valid planning reason and acknowledging Local Development Framework policy that the Town Centres should become more self sufficient, a café at Asda is not necessary since the service is well provided for in the vicinity.”
“In the 2008 Retail Impact Assessment for the expansion of Burnham’s Tesco store, it was estimated that £1.11 million of turnover at prevailing prices would be transferred from Burnham Town Centre (including Lidl and Morrisons) to the expanded Tesco store. It is noted that the Tesco expansion at 1,157 square metres of retail trading space is greater than the applicant’s 867 square metres of retail trading space for its mezzanine floor.”
“It is noted that the two thirds of the Tesco expansion was for convenience goods whereas the applicant’s expansion is only one eighth for convenience goods. As the applicant’s Retail Impact Assessment states that only 8.7% of Burnham Town Centre is accounted for by convenience goods, it follows that a large expansion of comparison goods is materially more disadvantageous to Burnham Town Centre.”
“As a result, the Chamber contends that the large comparison goods expansion coupled with the provision of a café makes this application more challenging to Burnham Town Centre than the Tesco expansion and as such is in contravention of Sedgemoor’s policy on viability and vitality.”
“The Chamber considers that the Tesco expansion, which was larger in size, with less competitive overlap with Burnham Town Centre and resulting in less transfer of spend within Burnham than the expected transfer from Burnham to the applicant, sets the benchmark for developer contribution to remediating the loss of business to Burnham-On-Sea.”
“The Tesco Section 106 agreement was £322,000 at 2012 prices on a loss of £1.11 million income to Burnham. As a result, the Asda Section 106 agreement based on a loss of £1.4 million should be £420,000 at 2014 prices.”
“The Chamber accepts that the three Burnham supermarkets will lose the greater part of the revenue but as the applicant’s Retail Impact Assessment does not attempt to calculate the loss to Burnham, an acceptable contribution should be no less than £100,000 owing to the competitive overlap of comparison goods and the lack of demonstrated need for a café.”
A final decision on whether the application gets final approval will be taken by Sedgemoor District Council over the next few weeks.
