Revised plans for a Designer Outlet Centre north of Grantham will come before a council meeting next week.

The planning committee of South Kesteven District Council is staging an extra meeting next Thursday concerning the outline planning application from Oldrid and Co.

The company seek planning approval for up to 20,479 sqm (GEA) of floorspace comprising retail units (A1), restaurants and cafes (A3), and storage.

There would also be additional large goods retail (5,574 sqm GEA), garden centre (5,521 sqm GEA) and external display area for garden centre (1,393 sqm), tourist information and visitor centre, training academy, leisure unit and offices.

The scheme, if approved would also include the demolition of existing garden centre and sales area and existing warehouse.

Planning staff at South Kesteven District Council recommend approval for the scheme at the Downtown Garden Centre, Old Great North Road, Great Gonerby.

They commented: "This is a complex major application that proposes the creation of a Tier 1 Designer Outlet Centre, with an amount of associated retail and leisure focused development including additional car parking, on brownfield land at the existing Downtown retail site."

The report notes councillors in February 2019 approved an almost identical scheme, subject to the completion of a Section 106 agreement, which is being progressed on with updated information.

This £125M scheme promised the creation of 1700 jobs.

The report says since then, there has been further in council policy, extra consultation, and other reports and correspondence, leading to officers to create an updated version of the committee report, which led them to approve the scheme in 2019.

Planning staff said they were satisfied with updated environmental and retail impact assessments and "it is considered that a robust decision can be made on the

basis of this updated submission." Their report continued: "The applicants propose that the Designer Outlet Centre (DOC) would be a Tier 1 operation that would retail upscale brands at the location and there are planning conditions and obligations which would be in place to ensure that the DOC is of the intended quality. "Because of the specialised nature of the development proposal and material planning considerations, the Council, acting in respect of its role as the Local Planning Authority, has retained expert advisors to support its consideration and determination of this application." The report also noted SKDC granting approval in April 2018 to a rival Tier 1 Designer Outlet Village on land for a Tier 1 Designer Outlet Village by Rioja Developments on land to the south of Grantham, which has recently been implemented. It continued: "Should this application for the Downtown DOC be approved, there is the potential for both schemes to come forward, albeit this is considered to be unlikely. "However, both the cumulative and net impacts and benefits of both schemes need to be considered for various scenarios should permission be granted and these are important material considerations in the determination of this application. "The key planning considerations are:

• Potential retail impact on vitality and viability of nearby town and city centres
• Cumulative retail impact with the implemented Rioja Designer Outlet Village
• Socio-economic considerations
• Landscape and visual impact
• Transport and access
• Environmental considerations
• Mitigation measures via planning condition or S106 Agreement"

Their report further continued: "The proposed development is considered to be in accordance with the development plan when taken as a whole. This is a different conclusion to that previously reached under the old development plan when the site was designated as employment land and the loss of employment 6

land to a retail use was concluded to be contrary to policy at that time. "The proposal would deliver significant benefits to the wider area, to Grantham and its economy. In the scenario that only one of the designer outlet schemes comes forward (i.e. the Rioja DOV scheme or the Downtown DOC scheme), the overall benefits of each of the two schemes are considered to be broadly similar to the existing situation i.e. the solus benefits of either the Rioja development or this Downtown development would be realised. "In order to ensure a robust assessment, the cumulative retail and associated impacts of granting permission for this scheme in addition to the implemented Rioja DOV have been considered. Following this assessment it is considered that the application should be supported." The report noted the designer outlet would replace the existing garden centre, which would be replaced with a smaller garden centre. The existing Downtown centre would remain. The company would use planned office development as part of the application for its own use, rate than anyone else occupying the offices, that being the only change in the fresh application, compared to the one approved previously. As before, there would also be a tourist information centre, to encourage people to visit Grantham. And there would also be 1979 parking spaces, including 1,020 multi –storey car parking spaces (provided across four levels), with electric charging spaces and a new bus stop. The report further said: "The applicants have indicated that the proposed Designer Outlet Centre (DOC) would be provided by a partnership between Oldrids and Freeport Retail. "The term DOC refers to a managed, purpose-built shopping centre development where a range of quality brands operate selling products and merchandise at discounts to regular prices. Often this may incorporate excess stock, discontinued lines, end-of-season products and imperfect / factory seconds. "The DOC would sit alongside the existing Downtown Store, replacement garden centre and the proposed large goods retail unit which will sell goods at full prices. "Whilst the existing Downtown store includes the sale of discounted goods within the Boundary Mills section of

the store the only restriction on the use of that building for retail purposes is that it can only be used for the sale of non-food products.

"The S106 agreement recommended for this development includes controls upon the existing Downtown building that would prevent the existing bulky goods space being replaced with other non-fashion retail space and would also prevent the sub-division of the existing building to smaller retail units.

"Further, the 'no poaching' clause relating to existing town centre retailers in Grantham, Newark and Balderton town centres extends to the existing Downtown building, which is considered to be

a significant betterment on the degree of control of the existing situation. "Some of the plans and supporting information submitted with the application refer to an aspirational 'Northern Gateway' to Grantham which include a potential Downtown Grantham Railway Station and a Park & Ride area. "However, it is important to note that these aspirations do not form part of the development being considered under this application and should not be afforded any weight in the determination of the application." The report also noted Buckminster and Rioja Developments and their legal and planning advisors have maintained strong objections to the proposed developments. Their objections include the threat that the development will pose to Grantham Town Centre, the scheme cannot be considered the same or similar to the Rioja and Buckminster development, the proposed development will not achieve the critical mass required for a tier 1

operation, Grantham already has an approved Tier 1 Outlet Village Scheme, and the Downtown scheme could never become a Tier 1 Outlet.

Rioja/ Buckminster also said proposed development would draw existing retailers away from the town centres and it could be built and then fail due to competition with their own scheme "which would lead

to the scheme being diluted and result in further harm to town centres."