A huge £4million expansion of a garden centre near Burnham-On-Sea has taken a step forward this week with the planning application being formally registered.
Burnham-On-Sea.com broke the news in March that Sanders Garden World at Brent Knoll wanted to extend its premises by 35,000 square feet and introduce a new roundabout on the A38 outside the store.
Now, a formal planning application has been registered by the store’s owners, Wyevale Garden Centres, which will be reviewed by Sedgemoor District Council’s planning team over the next few weeks.
Local residents have until August 26th to give their feedback on the scheme and a formal consulatation period by Sedgemoor planners began on Wednesday (July 30th).
If approved, Wyevale told Burnham-On-Sea.com earlier this year that the extension could generate over 100 new jobs.
Store manager Peter Burks, pictured above, added that if the scheme gets the go-ahead, construction could begin as soon as November 2008 and the extension would be completed during the summer of 2009.
Mr Burks says he believes the extended store would have no impact on the trade of Burnham shops. “I really don’t think it should make any difference to businesses in Burnham at all,” he told Burnham-On-Sea.com. “Our initial planning application limited the number and type of products we could sell to reduce competition with shops in Burnham, and we have no intention of changing this.”
Wyevale plans to increase the size of the store’s covered building to 63,000 square feet and to leave the remainder of the outdoor sales area in its existing state.
The proposal would also see the number of car parking spaces rise from 369 spaces to 411, and a new roundabout introduced on the A38.
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