| Conditions / Reason for Refusal: |
Thanks for sending over the additional information that has been submitted in support of the above planning application on 23rd December 2021, however it appears that Waverley has still not been fully assessed as part of the Sequential Test or Impact Assessment, and as such it is considered that until the retail assessment is fully updated to consider the Local Centres at Waverley, RMBC maintains its objection to this application.
Please see below further details to support RMBCs objection –
The proposal is for a food retail store of approximately 1,900sqm within the Sheffield Local Authority area. It is located in Handsworth, close to Rotherham, with the catchment area extending to include Waverley, Catcliffe, Orgreave and Swallownest. The key concerns identified are in relation to the impact test evidence provided by the applicant.
Following previous comments from RMBC in February 2021, raising concern at the non-inclusion of Waverley centres in the Sequential and Impact assessments for this proposal, the applicant has responded with further information. It seems that the applicant has assessed the possible new superstore at Highfield Commercial, Waverley, but not the whole Highfield Commercial centre, nor the Lakeside Local Centre.
The retail centres at Waverley are allocated in the Local Plan and progress is being made by the applicant and the Council on progressing these developments. These should not be discounted as part of any sequential or impact assessment. Policy SP14:SPA1 Waverley New Community sets out the requirements for the new development, including the new Mixed-Use Area 21: Highfield Commercial (Policy SP67), proposed to be 9201 sqm, and a secondary Local Centre at the Lakeside location.
NPPG – Town centres and retail states:
Where wider town centre developments or investments are in progress, it will also be appropriate to assess the impact of relevant applications on that investment. Key considerations will include:
• the policy status of the investment (i.e. whether it is outlined in the Development Plan)
• the progress made towards securing the investment (for example if contracts are established)
• the extent to which an application is likely to undermine planned developments or investments based on the effects on current/forecast turnovers, operator demand and investor confidence
Similarly, CS12 of the Rotherham Core Strategy states the following:
Proposals for retail, leisure or office uses of 500 sq. m gross or above, on the edge of or outside
of designated centres, must be accompanied by an assessment of
c. the impact of the proposal on existing, committed and planned public and private investment
in centres in the catchment area of the proposal; and
d. the impact of the proposal on the vitality and viability of centres, including local consumer
choice and trade.
Applicants should agree with the Local Planning Authority the scope of the evidence and analysis
to be submitted to ensure that this is proportionate to the scale and nature of the proposal.
Policy SP19 sets out the position of the two indicative Waverley sites in Table 10. Both Highfield Commercial and Waverley New Community are classified as local centres within the hierarchy.
The applicant states that
• Given that the entirety of the land designated to be the local centre was under the ownership of Harworth, with plans already in place for its development, this evidently discounts them as a potential sequentially preferable site. The Waverley site, or any part of it, has not been marketed as available during the drawing up of proposals for the development at Rotherham Road.
• The timescale for bringing the Rotherham Road development forward will be immediately following consent, particularly as the application has been in for over a year and so was expected to have already been nearing completion by this stage.
• Regarding the potential impact on the health of the forthcoming Waverley centre as a whole, we would maintain that there is no current centre on which to measure potential impact. Also, the lack of confirmed uses for the remaining proposed units at Waverley precludes approximating a turnover for the centre against which to measure impact, trade draw, etc.
• Nonetheless, the table below is taken from the retail assessment submitted in support of the Waverley centre development (RB2021/0777) and sets out the proposed units, uses and floorspaces. With reference to Sam’s extract from her committee report, where it queries the potential for the non-Aldi floorspace to be like-for-like, it is evident from the much smaller size of units that they will not be like-for-like. It is also highly unlikely that Aldi would have accepted other discount food retailers operating in the same local centre as part of their agreement with the landowner.
• Given that the Waverley centre will include a discount retailer, it follows that the presence of the Rotherham Road development would not materially impact on the health of the centre at Waverley once it becomes established. That is, had Waverley centre lacked a discount retailer altogether, there may have been reason to suggest that the Rotherham Road development would draw users away from other retail units in Waverley, thus affecting the health of the centre. However, since there is a confirmed discount retailer in the centre, it can be asserted that the health of Waverley centre would be unaffected by the Rotherham Road development.
The applicant has submitted information taken from the retail assessment for RB2021/0777, which has not yet been determined by this Council. However, there is an extant permission for retail development on the Highfield Commercial site (RB2017/0650). In these circumstances it is considered that the Impact Assessment for the Lidl proposal at Handsworth should assess proposals in the original extant permission for Highfield Commercial and the recently submitted Olive Lane proposals (RB2021/0777). Given that Lidl sell not only food but a range of other items, then it would seem reasonable to assess the potential impacts of an out of centre Lidl supermarket on all retail elements within the two Local centres at Waverley. A Local Centre is the third tier in the retail centres hierarchy, and we can assume sells and provides goods and services for top-up shopping to meet day to day needs.
It is considered that an out-of-centre supermarket will not only impact on other discount retailers but also other potential operators likely to occupy retail floorspace within an allocated Local Centre such as: bakeries, butchers, off-licences etc. and in these circumstances the potential retail offer (both permitted and that application currently under consideration) should be considered in an Impact Assessment for the Lidl proposal at Handsworth.
RMBC and the applicants at Waverley are currently engaged in the process of developing a Masterplan for the Waverley mixed use allocation MU21 Highfield Commercial site. To my knowledge there does not appear to be any evidence submitted that Aldi are seeking to be the sole discount retailer within the wider Waverley community.
As planning permission has not yet been granted for the second local centre identified in table 10 of policy SP19 as Waverley New Community (indicative) it is possible that another discount retailer could be developed at the Lakeside Local Centre.
Regarding the Lakeside Centre proposed at Waverley, the applicant states that this is at too early a stage to assess.
Page 14 of this includes a good deal of information and makes it quite clear that this is very much secondary to the primary Waverley commercial centre. It establishes:
- that the LLC will have ‘1300sqm of retail and other commercial uses’
- ‘the Lakeside will then provide complimentary and ancillary services’
- ‘the Lakeside area […] presents an opportunity for leisure, retail and commercial uses including restaurant, cafes and community uses.’
- ‘a limited number of bars, restaurants, cafes and a sports shop would be appropriate within the mixed use units along the Lakeside frontage’
So our view is that this other local centre will be highly distinct in terms of its character, mix of uses and scale such that it’s not really comparable in terms of there being any impact.
That all being said, the Lakeside area is yet to be subject to any RM applications and our understanding is that it’s some years off still, so notwithstanding the above it would be impossible to undertake any meaningful impact assessment at the current time anyway, and probably not for a few years to come
The 1300sqm figure is extracted by the applicant for the Lidl in Handsworth from the masterplan submitted as part of 2017/0743. The figure is not in the Local Plan and as the applicant suggests, delivery of this second local centre within Waverley is at an early stage of development and the 1300sqm figure could change, such that a possible proposal for a second discount retailer could be located at the Lakeside Local Centre.
We can hypothesise that the Lakeside Local Centre (policy SP14. b. i.) will be smaller than 9000sqm, since the Lakeside Local Centre is secondary to the Highfield Commercial Centre -policy SP67 refers. Policy SP14. SPA1 Waverley New Community: … “b. the following supporting and complementary uses will also be supported: i. a local centre close to Waverley Lakeside, of an appropriate scale to meet the needs of the new community and recreational users of the Lakeside area, and, taking account of the uses identified as acceptable within the adjacent Mixed Use Area 21. Acceptable uses within local centres are set out in Policy SP19 'Development Within Town, District and Local Centres'.”
And paragraph 14.5.7 states: “The secondary Local Centre within SPA1 is expected to be of a significantly smaller scale and it is intended to meet the needs of the new community in this location as well as the users of the lakeside leisure and recreational facilities. The range of acceptable uses within Local Centres is identified at Policy SP 19 'Development Within Town, District and Local Centres'. Core Strategy Policy CS 12 'Managing Change in Rotherham's Retail and Service Centres' indicates that new development of an appropriate scale for local shops and community facilities will be supported in areas of housing growth. The Council will therefore carefully consider any proposals to ensure that they are appropriate in scale for this Lakeside location, whilst having due regard to the proposals for Mixed Use Centre provision within Mixed Use Area 21”
It is noted that RMBC advised the applicant in 2021 that it was not necessary to include Swallow Wood Road as part of the sequential test, as it is a single operator within a Local Centre, however the applicant has assessed this and the nearby co-op within Swallownest District Centre as part of the submitted impact assessment in August 2021.
It is considered that the sequential test should include the two centres within Waverley, as there may be potentially suitable sites at the proposed Lakeside Local Centre. Also, it is considered that an impact test should be undertaken for the two centres proposed at Waverley. The test could be undertaken on the basis of the proposed retail development as a whole, using figures from existing similar centres, since the occupants of the developments are not yet known.
I note that this application is on the agenda for Planning Committee tomorrow, however I trust that the above will be taken into consideration as part of the determination process due to the timescale given to RMBC to respond to the updated information. On this note RMBC is disappointed that the application has been placed on the agenda prior to seeking our comments on the amended information as well as the short notice we have been given to respond over the Christmas period. Nevertheless, we maintain our objection for the given reasons.
I would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of the email and confirm that it will be taken into consideration.
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