Tesco plans for Great Homer Street rejected

1 Dec 2009, 16:50

Michael Hunt

Plans for a free standing Tesco superstore to be built on the site of £150m Project Jennifer development in Liverpool have been rejected.

Tesco proposed a foodstore development consisting of more than 80,000 sq ft, with associated petrol station, car parking and landscaping, an indoor market and outdoor market area in Great Homer Street.

But following a public inquiry earlier this year Tesco's application has been rejected by planning inspector Phillip Ware.

Liverpool City Council and development partner St Modwen argued that this development would prejudice a comprehensive redevelopment which aims to deliver a district centre with a greater choice of comparison shopping to local people than a free standing foodstore.

In June, St Modwen signed Sainsbury's as anchor tenant at its Project Jennifer development a year after losing Tesco.

The supermarket giant has committed to taking a 110,000 sq ft store in the scheme, situated between Great Homer Street and Scotland Road. The proposed plans will make it the largest superstore in the city.

St Modwen ended talks with Tesco following four years of negotiations which failed to result in the supermarket group committing to the Project Jennifer scheme. Tesco still owns three acres of the land.

As well as the Sainsbury's superstore, Project Jennifer includes a car park with 965 spaces, petrol filling station, 80,000 sq ft of non-food retail stores, a market hall and 300 relocated outdoor market stalls, 481 new homes, facilities for the Primary Care Trust, a new library, leisure facilities, 80,000 sq ft of light industrial space and improved public realm.

Michelle Taylor, regional director of St Modwen, said: "We are delighted by the planning inspector's decision to refuse the free-standing foodstore proposal for Great Homer Street.

"We have always maintained that the application to build a foodstore in isolation would not have brought about the much needed regeneration for one of the most deprived areas in the country and this is something which the planning inspector endorsed.

"We are looking forward to pressing ahead with our proposals to deliver this much needed scheme which is widely backed in the local community - this is not only great news for us, but also for them.

"The decision by the planning inspector now means we can begin the next phase of Project Jennifer. This is a long term, large scale regeneration project which will provide hundreds of new homes, hundreds of full time jobs, new community facilities and a large supermarket. We can now get to work delivering the scheme that the people in the area want."

Hitchcock Wright & Partners and GVA Grimley are joint acting agents for St Modwen.

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