Whitebirk retail park must expand - inquiry told

3:15pm Wednesday 16th April 2008

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By Camilla Sutcliffe »

BUSINESSES see Whitebirk Retail Park as a "failed development" which cannot be viable unless it is expanded, developers said.

Owners Peel Holdings told the public inquiry into plans to build more units with a wider variety of shops at the site that said Hyndburn Council risked closed and boarded-up shops on the existing site if it refused the proposed expansion.

Chartered surveyor Michael Putney, for Manchester-based Peel Holdings, told the inquiry that the new shops would have no effect on the new Mall development in Blackburn, or shops in Accrington town centre.

The proposals would mean four new units on the site - two for clothes and two more for non-food, non-fashion retail.

At the moment, only "bulky goods" shops like electrical shops and furniture showrooms are allowed there.

Mr Putney said clothing retailers Next and ASDA Living had already committed to the new units, with the Arcadia group, which owns Wallis, Burtons and Dorothy Perkins, waiting in the wings if either deal fell through.

He said these developments, along with removal of unsightly electricity pylons, landscaping, and the introduction of a dedicated bus service to the centre would revatilise its fortunes.

Mr Putney said: "There is a stigma attached to that site now and that's going to be quite difficult to get over in itself.

"The occupiers just think it's a failed scheme and they would not go to it."

He added that one of the biggest retailers on the site had threatened to pull out if the development was not allowed.

Government planning inspector Andrew Pykett is hearing the case after Hyndburn Council turned down the plans following protest from town-centre retailers in Blackburn and Accrington.

The council's barrister Ruth Stockley said: "If these units are not let, the developers will come back to the council again to ask for more flexibility.

"The new units could attract non-fashion tenants that would otherwise be investing in the Mall and the town centres."

The inquiry, which was originally planned to last just five days, was on its seventh day at Hyndburn Council Chambers today, and still has not finished.

It is expected to reconvene for a final day on May 18.