Secretary of State confirms supermarket decision should remain local
21 February
Scarborough Borough Council can confirm that, following official
notification on 17 February, the planning application for
construction of a Tesco store with car parking, landscaping and
associated works on the former St Mary’s Hospital and Dean Road
Depot sites has not been called-in for examination by the Secretary
of State.
Members of the council’s Planning and Development Committee
resolved to grant the scheme planning permission at its meeting on
8 December 2011 following which the application had to be referred
to the Secretary of State in order to allow him to consider whether
to call it in for his own determination. The application needed to
be referred to the Secretary of State due to the size of the retail
store, the fact that the site was not within the town centre, and
also because the proposal was a departure from the Local Plan.
Confirmation has now been received from the Secretary of State
for Communities and Local Government, via the National Planning
Casework Unit, that the application does not need to be called-in
as ‘the proposals do not involve a conflict with national policies
on important matters nor have significant effects beyond their
immediate locality, give rise to substantial regional or national
controversy, raise significant architectural and urban design
issues.’
The application will be determined at local level by the
planning authority, Scarborough Borough Council, which can now
issue a decision notice.
Pauline Elliott, Scarborough Borough Council’s Head of Planning
and Regeneration said:
“The council is pleased that the planning application has not
been called-in by the Secretary of State. Although we understand
that the decision remains unsupported in some quarters, this
communication from central government demonstrates that the council
as planning authority has acted correctly in following the proper
planning procedures to reach the present stage.”
The next step is for Tesco to apply for a road closure of
Trafalgar Street West.