Hattersley Tesco store gets green light

Plans for a 90,000 sq ft superstore and district centre to be built in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, have been given the go ahead.

The Government Office for the North West confirmed that the Secretary of State will not intervene on the September planning approval decision by Tameside Council.

The new superstore will be built on derelict land off Stockport Road and Ashworth Lane, known locally as the 'Mottram Roundabout' site.

The proposals had to undergo a judicial review by the Government Office North West as a standard procedure because of the size of the superstore.

Peak Valley Housing Association and Tameside Council are the landowners of the site.

Phil Corris, managing director of Peak Valley Housing Association, said: "This is the news Hattersley has been waiting for. The land has been earmarked for commercial development since 2005 and we are delighted that our plans to bring local facilities and around 450 new jobs can at last be realised."

The scheme is part of a masterplan for the area and has the support of the Homes & Communities Agency and developer CTP.

Peak Valley Housing Association said it also has the support of the majority of the 7,000 Hattersley residents.

Brenda Duddridge, a local resident and chairman of the Hattersley Environment, Housing and Regeneration Theme Group, added: "Residents are the main stakeholders in this. It's great that we will finally have the 'significant retail outlet' that has been called for in consultations and discussions with local residents dating back to before 2000."

The new development will comprise a Tesco Extra as well as providing a base for the library service, Hattersley Neighbourhood Partnership, the police, Peak Valley Housing Association offices and numerous other community groups.

Work on the new development is anticipated to start in April 2011 with the new store expected to open for business around April 2012. The new community facilities are likely to be ready at the same time.

In August, the project faced criticism from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, which argued that the proposals seemed to prioritise the supermarket above anything else and it overlooked the public transport links.

CABE, currently undergoing consideration whether it should be retained by Government, was asked to be consulted as it often does on large supermarkets despite it not being a statutory consultee on the project.