Item No 4(e)

Site: Sainsbury's Store Tritton Road Lincoln Lincolnshire LN6 7QN

Application No: 2009/0487/F

Target Date: 2nd November 2009

Agent: Indigo Planning

Applicant: The Harvest Partnership LTD

Development: Erection of an extension to the existing Sainsbury's foodstore, including the configuration at the Sainsbury's and Lindis retail park car parks, associated car park works, access, landscaping and servicing, and Outline permission for retail/café/restaurant unit.

Background

The application proposes to extend the existing Sainsbury’s store on Tritton Road, together with an extension and reconfiguration of the car park and the provision of a small free standing retail/café/restaurant building towards the front of the site. The existing store was built in 1991 and a small extension was added in 1999 and the store in its current size and configuration does not meet the aims of the applicants or of their customers. The application would provide an additional area of retail floorspace of 3,727m2, which will increase the overall floorspace of the store from 3,484m2 to 7,213m2 and allow for the sale of a wider range of fresh produce and also a wider range of non-food items such as clothing and homewares. The extension and reconfiguration of the car park will lead to the existing car park from the store being joined with the car park serving Lindis Retail Park with the associated benefits that this will bring, along with the ability to be able to gain vehicular access from Moorland Way as well as from Tritton Road via the existing access.

. Site visit Undertaken on several occasions, most recently 27th October 2009. Issues

Planning policy

Design

Traffic and parking

Landscaping

Residential amenity

Contaminated land

Surface water drainage

Air Quality and Noise Policies Referred to

PPS1 – Creating Sustainable Communities

PPS6 – Planning for Town Centres

Draft PPS4 – Planning for Prosperous Economies

East Midlands Regional Plan 2009

City of Lincoln Local Plan – Policy 34, 73B, 74A Consultations Consultations were carried out in accordance with the Statement of Community Involvement, adopted June 2006. The applicant has undertaken a pre-application publicity for the proposals including in-store exhibitions and requests for feedback, meetings with local community stakeholders and the proposals have received publicity in the local media. Consideration The application represents a substantial investment by Sainsbury’s in the City and raises consequent issues, which need to be thoroughly assessed. This report will deal with each of these issues in turn. Planning Policy PPS1 Delivering Sustainable Development sets out the Government’s key principles on planning policy and states that at the heart of sustainable development “is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality of life for everyone.” The aims of sustainable development are set out in PPS1 and it is stated that these “should be pursued in an integrated way through a sustainable, innovative and productive economy that delivers high levels of employment and a just society and promotes social inclusion, sustainable communities and personal well being.” PPS6 Planning for Town Centres sets out the Government’s approach to town centres and town centre uses with the key objective for town centres being “to promote their vitality and viability by:

Planning for growth and development of existing centres; and

Promoting and enhancing existing centres….”

It then goes on to set out further Government objectives as follows:

Enhancing customer choice by making provision for a range of shopping, leisure and local services, which allow genuine choice to meet the needs of the entire community, and particularly socially excluded groups;

Supporting efficient, competitive and innovative retail, leisure , tourism and other sectors, with improving productivity; and

Improving accessibility, ensuring that existing or new development is, or will be, accessible and well-served by a choice of means of transport.”

PPS6 and subsequent Government thinking is very clear that “it is not the role of the planning system to restrict competition, preserve existing commercial interests or to prevent innovation.” PPS6 then states that in determining planning applications for retail development, Local Planning Authorities should require applicants to demonstrate:

a) the need for development b) that the development is of an appropriate scale c) that there are no more central sites for the development d) that there are no unacceptable impacts on existing centres e) that locations are accessible

In reaching their decisions local planning authorities should also consider relevant local issues and other material considerations. Taking each of these requirements in turn:

a) the need for the development PPS6 states (para 2.33) that the greatest weight in determining the need for a development should be placed on quantitative need and that this should be undertaken having a realistic assessment of existing and forecast population levels; forecast expenditure for specific classes of goods to be sold and forecast improvements in the productivity in the use of floorspace. The applicant has undertaken a detailed assessment of quantitative need, which has been robustly tested by your officers and amendments made to the relevant forecasts where necessary. The assessment takes account of potential population growth in the south and west particularly of the greater Lincoln area and draws on detailed information available through the Nectar loyalty card and other sources of population and expenditure data. It also acknowledges that the existing store is overtrading and indicates that some trade is likely to be diverted from other supermarkets and out of centre retailers in the City. The conclusion of the work demonstrates however that there is expenditure capacity locally which demonstrates a quantitative need for the proposed additional floorspace and the goods, which are intended to be retailed. PPS6 (para 2.35) refers to qualitative need and states that the provision of customer choice is a key consideration and that this is achieved by ensuring that an appropriate distribution of locations is achieved, that provision is made for a range of sites which allow genuine choice to meet the needs of the whole community, particularly those living in deprived areas and also the degree to which shops may be overtrading. The applicants have provided evidence that the existing store is overtrading and have also provided information that the consequent environment within the store does not meet existing or future needs in terms of space and the range of goods. The location of the store will be looked at further in c) below but its position does provide an important local facility for residents of the south of the City and of the Moorland area in particular.

The investment proposed will give a better store, provide a better environment and provide more choice for customers. b) appropriate scale of development The scale of the store both in terms of floorspace and in terms of its impact on expenditure capacity are important considerations in PPS6 and the guidance states that the scale of development should relate to the role and function of the centre within which they are located. The application site does not fall within a defined centre and this will be addressed in more detail below. The store however does fall within an area defined as a location suitable for retail warehousing and is also an established destination alongside a number of other retail outlets. Representations have been made by the applicant’s agents in respect of the redesignation of this area, Lindis Retail Park as a district centre through the Local Development process. The scale of development in terms of the physical size of the proposal is not considered inappropriate and the various effects of the extension are dealt with elsewhere in this report and are considered to be acceptable subject to appropriate mitigation. The scale of expenditure capacity in the catchment of the store is greater than the potential turnover of the proposals and this is projected to increase as a consequence of increasing population and income in the area. Again the scale of the development is appropriate to the scale of the expenditure catchment . c) sequential approach to site selection PPS6 sets out a sequential approach to site selection, with the preferred location being town centres and district centres, then edge of centre locations and only then out of centre sites, with preference given to those which are or will be well served by choice of means of transport. PPS6 also expects developers and operators to consider the scope for disaggregating their proposals but also advises that local planning authorities should be realistic about the availability, suitability and viability of alternative sites and that a single retailer should not be expected to split their proposed development arbitrarily. The applicant has undertaken an assessment of more centrally located sites and has concluded that these would not be viable, suitable or available. This approach has been assessed and your officers are satisfied that it is sufficiently rigorous. Equally this proposal is an extension to the existing store so it is not reasonable to expect the proposals to be disaggregated. The new store, as extended, brings benefits of choice and accessibility, which are not likely to be achieved through disaggregation. d) impact The City Centre performs the major sub-regional role in meeting the needs of the greater Lincoln area and the wider hinterland and is the most sequentially preferable location for development. The continued vitality and viability of the City Centre is critical and the applicant must clearly demonstrate that their out of centre development does not cause harm to this vitality and viability.

The store extension seeks to enhance the food retailing role of the store and this will have no impact on the City Centre and the additional comparison floorspace which is proposed is likely to draw the vast majority of its trade from out of centre comparison retailers. The impact of the development on the City Centre is therefore negligible. PPS6 states that “local planning authorities should consider the impact of the proposal on the vitality and viability of existing centres within the catchment area of the proposed development.” The overtrading of the store means that the estimated increase in turnover as a result of the extension of the store is not considered to be significant in its impact on district centres within the catchment area. There will be a significant increase in the range of non-food items sold within the extended store but the likely increased expenditure on these items will be largely drawn from the diversion of such expenditure from other out of centre retailers which are in sites which are no more favoured in terms of policy. Supermarkets tend to compete with one another whilst the shops in district and local centres tend to serve local, immediate needs. The impact of the proposal on centres within the catchment area is therefore not significant. e) accessible locations The out of centre location of the site requires it to be accessible by a choice of means of transport, in order to contribute to the general aim of Government policy to achieve more sustainable patterns of development. The site is part of a wider retail park, which is an existing destination. Supermarkets tend to be heavily reliant on car traffic. The application is accompanied by a detailed Transport Assessment, which has been the subject of further discussion with the highway authority and as a consequence there are a number of additional highway improvements proposed which will significantly increase the accessibility of the site and the retail area as a whole. There is a large residential population to the east of the site in Moorland and the Mead areas together with the large areas of housing also within the catchment in Birchwood and also North Hykeham. The highway improvements, which will be described in more detail below, will improve accessibility by pedestrians and cyclists, and will further enhance accessibility by public transport. I am satisfied that the application will deliver improvements in accessibility and provide a genuine choice to customers in how they access the store. Other Local Issues and Material Considerations PPS6 expects local planning authorities to consider the degree to which other considerations, including specific local circumstances, may be material to the choice of appropriate locations for development.

Physical regeneration – the site is brownfield and the investment proposed in the overall building will provide an improvement to the overall appearance of the site.

Employment – the proposal will provide an additional 150 jobs and the applicants have stated that they will recruit new staff from the local area and that they are committed to local employment partnerships working with local jobcentres and providing employment training initiatives for the local area. The

applicants have also agreed to enter into a Local Labour Agreement to deliver the local training and recruitment

Economic growth – the increase in investment in the site will benefit the local economy in terms of the additional employment and also in terms of retaining within the City expenditure, which may otherwise have leaked out to other areas.

Social inclusion – the store is very well located to serve the needs of the south part of the City and in particular the needs of Moorland which is acknowledged as having multiple indices of deprivation. The improved facilities at the site, the improved pedestrian and public transport access and the local employment opportunities will all bring local benefits, which are needed in the area.

The Government has published a consultation on a new PPS, PPS4 Planning for Prosperous Economies, which is intended to replace PPS6 and also PPG4, PPG5 and parts of PPS7. The objective of the new PPS is to promote economic prosperity and recognises the role which planning can play in delivering a positive approach to proposals which create wealth, improve productivity and which promote competition. The draft PPS still promotes the town centre as the favoured location for developments such as retail uses but does remove the requirement for new developments outside of town centres to demonstrate a “need.” The emphasis on competition extends to the promotion of competition between retailers and the enhancement of customer choice through the provision of innovative and more efficient shopping services. The Regional Plan for the East Midlands was published on March 2009, identifying Lincoln as one of the Principal Urban Areas in the East Midlands. It emphasises the need for local regeneration in Lincoln and also sets out the Growth Point status of the City. The Lincoln Policy Area Sub-Regional Strategy echoes national guidance in setting out a sequential approach to site selection identifying Central Lincoln as the preferred location and then elsewhere in the built up area of Lincoln and North Hykeham. The applicant, as set out above, has satisfactorily demonstrated that there are no sequentially preferable sites available, viable and suitable within the central area; the site falls into the next category within the built up area, accessible and well served by public transport. City of Lincoln Local Plan policies relevant to this application are as follows:

Policy 34 Design and Amenity Standards

Policy 73B Retail Warehousing Policy 34 sets out the requirements for development to respect its context – the proposals within the application demonstrate that the design and the potential impact of the development have been satisfactorily assessed. Policy 73B which deals with retail warehousing is relevant in that the existing site was given a retail warehousing allocation when the Local Plan was adopted in 1998 principally as it is adjacent to the Lindis Retail Park and Co-op Moorland Centre.The policy allows extensions to retail warehouses but is silent in respect of extensions to food stores.

Design The application proposes to extend the existing store on the north side into an area, which is currently used for car parking. The extension will be contemporary in design and the same architectural treatment will be carried over to the existing building upgrading the whole façade and introducing significant new areas of glazing into the ground floor frontage. The café will be relocated into the new extension on a mezzanine level with windows facing east and north over Starmers pit. The architectural approach was agreed in conjunction with officers and the clean lines, extensive glazing and the use of grey aluminium composite panels gives the long frontage a light and open appearance. The entrance is emphasised with glazed portico and this provide height and modelling to the elevation reducing the overall impact of its length. The extension incorporates the mezzanine so the roof line is higher than that of the existing part of the store and this again gives variety and interest to the new building. The regrading and reconfiguration of the car park, allowing vehicular access from Moorland Way as well as from the existing point of access on Tritton Road will allow this area to be used more efficiently and it will be integrate the other adjacent retail uses. Traffic and Parking The applicant has submitted a detailed Transport Statement, which has been examined carefully by officers and by the highway authority. Detailed discussions are continuing in respect of the level of mitigation, which is necessary to address the impact of the development but the main areas can be summarised as follows:

1. Improvements to the Doddington Road/Tritton Road junction to include pedestrian crossing facilities on Tritton Road and widening to increase right turn lane storage on Tritton Road (southbound).

2. Improvements to Skellingthorpe Road/Tritton Road junction to include widening to increase right turn lane storage on Tritton Road (southbound) and potential adjustments to lane widths/road markings to improve queuing conditions.

3. Improvements to site access/Tritton Road/Moorland Ave junction to include pedestrian/cycle facilities on western side of junction (across the site access) and, potentially, additional signal phases/islands controlling the right turn into the site from Tritton Road.

4. Improvements to Moorland Way/Tritton Road junction to include additional pedestrian facilities (such as tactile paving) and realigned crossing points.

5. Improvements to local bus stops (northbound adjacent to site access and southbound immediately north of Moorland Avenue) to include high kerbs and shelters.

I will update Committee on the progress of the discussions at your meeting.

Landscaping The boundary of the site to Tritton Road is marked by an area of dense tree and shrub planting, which totally screens the site from the road. The trees provide an important element in the green character of Tritton Road as it leads into the City from the south and any proposals to alter this area must be carefully assessed. The residents who live opposite the site on Middlebrook Road understandably value the density of the vegetation as a screen to the site and the activity within it and the effect of any changes must also be considered in terms of the effect on them. The applicant has undertaken an assessment of the existing trees on the site and the ecological value of the site and I have no particular issues with the methodology or with the conclusion of the reports. Equally consultation with English Nature has been undertaken and no objections have been raised. The applicant has not submitted a detailed landscaping strategy or detailed landscaping proposals for the development – this is a matter, which can be conditioned. The two issues, which will need to be dealt with at that stage are the appearance of the site and the effect on residential amenity. Residential Amenity The application site is situated close to but not within an existing residential area and the extension and associated alterations to the existing building will not have any effect on those residents closest to the site that are located east of Tritton Road on Middlebrook Road. The landscaping issues are covered above have the most potential to have an impact on residents but these matters can be controlled. There is no other potential impact on residents. Contaminated Land The site is a brownfield site, currently car park and prior to the development of the existing store the site had an industrial use. Equally there are bodies of open water to the north and west, the area to the west (beyond the railway) being part of a site of Special Scientific Interest. The Council’s Scientific Officer has therefore recommended conditions to ensure that any potential contamination is investigated and dealt with during the course of development. Surface Water Drainage The Environment Agency and the Upper Witham Internal Drainage Board have both recommended conditions which address the rate of discharge of surface water drainage from the site into the adopted sewer system in the vicinity of the site and it would be appropriate for some or all of this surface water to be accommodated within the site through the use of permeable surfaces and other means of sustainable drainage. This matter can be conditioned. The Environment Agency had initially raised an objection to the proposal based on the design life of the building – this matter has been concluded and agreement has now been reached. Air Quality and Noise

Matters of air quality and noise were considered at the pre-application stage and it was agreed at that time that the proposed development was not likely to cause an issue with either of these matters. Retail/café/restaurant unit The part of the application which relates to the free standing unit proposed towards the front of the site is in outline form, so no details of the design are provided and the final use of the unit has also been kept deliberately open. A small unit of these uses is not significant in terms of policy and should be able to comply with all other material issues raised in this report. It will be necessary for the applicant to make a submission for the approval of the reserved matters and it would be prudent at this, outline stage, to also require details of opening hours should the use be a restaurant or café and also details of the extraction of cooking fumes in order that the amenity of residents on the east side of Middlebrook Road is adequately protected. Conclusion The proposal has been rigorously assessed against the policy background and all other material factors and the conclusion is that the development will provide a better facility for residents in the south of the City and will bring with it many benefits for the local community.

Application negotiated either at pre-application or during process of application Yes. Application Determined within Target Date No, ongoing negotiations, especially in relation to highway issues. Recommendation

That, subject to a satisfactory conclusion of negotiations in respect of the outstanding highway issues, Committee is Minded to Grant planning permission and the application is referred to the Government Office in accordance with the requirements of Circular 02/2009. (see below for details as to why this is necessary) Conditions

1. Detailed landscaping design 2. Detailed surface water drainage design 3. Details of all facing materials 4. Contaminated land assessment 5. Details of Local Labour Agreement 6. Highway conditions 7. Restriction on subdivision of new building 8. Control of proportion of convenience floorspace relative to comparison to ensure

food retailing remains the principle purpose 9. Restriction on additional floorspace which could otherwise be permitted

development as a mezzanine

10. Full details of the design of the free standing retail unit to the front of the site, including hours of operation and fume extraction

11. Details of car park security and site management

(The requirement to refer the application to the Secretary of State at the regional office is made under The Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2009 because the site is out-of-centre, does not fully accord with the provisions of the development plan and consists of a building where the floorspace to be created by the development is an extension on 2500 square metres or more which, when aggregated with the existing floorspace, would exceed 5000 square metres.)

Photographic View Points

Photograph A

Photograph B

Photograph C

Written Representations