Dispute over location of M&S foodhall ironed out

Hyndburn Council has approved plans for a controversial 21,650 sq ft M&S food store at the Issa brothers-owned Frontier Park off Frontier Avenue for a second time.

Monte Blackburn, the development arm of the Blackburn-based Issa brothers, applied on behalf of operator M&S, which will benefit from a 15,300 sq ft sales area in a store designed by Campbell Driver Partnership Architects.

Hyndburn had already approved the scheme once before but this decision was quashed by the High Court after a challenge by Tesco, meaning the planning process had to be re-run. Tesco argued that there had been a “failure of the critical ‘Town Centre First’ sequential approach test”.

Last week, officers recommended refusal for the scheme on the grounds of neighbouring Blackburn with Darwen Council’s objection, which claimed the Thwaites Brewery site in Blackburn’s town centre was a more suitable plot to host the M&S.

The Thwaites Brewery site was recently snubbed by Morrisons when the retailer pulled out of its potential move.

Blackburn with Darwen councillors declared that a Frontier Park store would suffer in an “isolated, out-of-centre location” and highlighted the “sequentially preferable” site in Blackburn.

However, Hyndburn’s planning committee ignored BwD’s appeals and its own officers to approve the project for a second time.

Plans for the two-acre plot at Frontier Park off Frontier Avenue include a 154-capacity car park.

The Frontier Park site hosts companies such as Taziker, SIS, and Fagan & Whalley.

• BOOK NOW: North West Industrial & Logistics 2025

To view the application, use the planning reference number 11/22/0435 on Hyndburn Council’s planning portal.

The land at Knuzden Moss Farm

The scheme will encompass five acres of land. Credit: via planning documents

At the same committee meeting, approval was given to Root-Power North for the use of land at Knuzden Moss Farm as a battery energy storage system.

The 60 MW storage facility will provide energy balancing services to the National Grid, supporting the grid when energy consumption is high.

Across five acres, the site will comprise 14 battery clusters, seven transformers, and various switchrooms.

Energy Planning, part of the PWA Planning Group, was the planning consultant for the application.

To view the application, use the planning reference number 11/24/0389 on Hyndburn Council’s planning portal.