Public Enquiry

The public enquiry into the planning application by ASDA for a Supermarket at Slackbuie will be held.

Starting 20th October 2008 at 10.00 am in Inshes primary School.

The enquiry is expected to last a week.

PLANNING VICTORY GIVES ASDA ITS FOOTHOLD IN TESCO TOWN

Press and Journal 08:50 - 16 January 2008

They voted 15-2 in favour of the retail giant's proposals at the end of a highly charged meeting in a chamber packed with supermarket supporters.

The new store could create up to 400 jobs.

Councillors rejected advice from the planners to turn down the application for the £25million Slackbuie development, bringing a huge cheer from the 137 people watching from the public gallery and in two overspill rooms.

The application for a supermarket, filling station and five small retail units is now likely to go before Scottish ministers because it does not conform to the Inverness local plan.

Delighted supermarket chiefs welcomed the decision by the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey planning applications and review committee.

Development surveyor Barney Hale, who made Asda's presentation at the meeting, said: "We are delighted.

"It's the first step to hopefully opening a store in Inverness. Obviously there are still a number of political hoops to go through yet, including referral to the Scottish ministers.

"But this is a good result today. It is the outcome of 10 years of hard work."

Yesterday's vote followed a high-profile campaign by Asda that included newspaper advertisements encouraging people to attend the meeting and show support for its plans.

Council officials revealed yesterday that they had been swamped with letters, e-mails, phone calls and petitions supporting the development.

Beauly councillor Helen Carmichael, who voted in favour of the application, said: "The community's voice has been heard, without a doubt. I simply don't think there was a strong case against it."

But David Henderson, a Ness-side councillor who voted against the development and was heckled from the public gallery, raised concerns about the mood of the meeting.

He said: "The atmosphere in the chamber was quite intimidating and I don't think that it is a right and proper environment for careful consideration and complex argument."

Highland Council's head of planning and building standards, Ken McCorquodale, told members that, according to the local plan for a "district centre" in the area, a 70,000sq ft supermarket was "excessive" and that too small a proportion - 60% - was allocated to food scales.

He warned that it could affect the city centre, where several buildings are already struggling to find tenants. And he insisted it could generate substantial additional traffic in an area where Inshes roundabout was already a sticking point.

Yesterday's meeting came a month after the Scottish Government upheld the council's decision to dismiss an application to build a fourth Tesco store in Dores Road.

Mr McCorquodale warned that approving Asda's application would establish a precedent that would "erode the ability" of the council to resist similar retail applications in the city.

Mr Henderson, a Liberal Democrat, said he was surprised by the decision.

He added: "I thought the case made by the officials was very persuasive, based on good planning principles and good planning policy.

"Frankly, I think they (councillors) gave in to public pressure. It was very evident, and they put their planning principles aside. If Asda came with a smaller application, primarily with food items and petrol, which everyone wants, myself included, and grew the centre later as the trunk link road develops, I would have taken a completely different view.

"But a development of that size, on that site, at this time, I can't support."

Inverness south councillor Thomas Prag, who also voted against the development, said: "I am disappointed with some of my colleagues who changed their mind in the face of public pressure.

"I still think that if the word Tesco had been substituted for Asda in that application, the decision would be completely the other way round.

"We have to take a decision on planning grounds, not on who submits the application."

The decision was broadly welcomed outside the meeting and Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Casia Zajac described the councillors' decision as "democracy in action".

She added: "Our members, I expect, will be pleased. We obviously were supportive but we did share the concerns of the council in terms of the infrastructure."

Holm Community Council chairman Steven Rodger, who is also a postmaster, said: "I have been in the post office all afternoon and every single customer who has been in has been in favour of it. It is important now that we get it right, particularly in terms of roads and infrastructure."

Highlands and Islands MSP Mary Scanlon welcomed the Asda go-ahead and said: "I am delighted that commonsense has prevailed. This will hopefully lead to greater competition in the Tesco capital of the UK in all food and clothing ranges as well as petrol.

"It is a fact that Tesco in Elgin charges 2-3p per litre less on average that in Inverness due to the competition from Asda.

"It is hoped that they will procure local produce to support local suppliers and help reduce food miles."

 TESCO DEALT BLOW OVER INVERNESS STORE BID

Press and Journal - 08:50 - 05 December 2007

And in a double whammy for supermarket shoppers in the Highland capital, councillors used the report to again defer a long-awaited decision on plans for an Asda store in the city, which has been dubbed Tesco Town.

The decision was made at a highly-charged meeting of the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey planning committee, when an announcement deferring the decision was met by a barrage of boos and hisses from about 100 members of the public.

Slackbuie ASDA

The company is staging an exhibition of its Inverness plans at the Eastgate Centre today and tomorrow, where members of the public will be given a first view of what the new store at Slackbuie, near Inverness Royal Academy, will look like and be asked for their views on the development.

“We will have a CD simulation of our proposals which will show a fly-through of the site for the first time,” a company spokesman said.

“Representatives of Asda and Elphinstone Land, which has plans for a 100-bed hotel and health centre on an adjacent site, will be on hand to answer questions.

As part of the store’s bid to keep the community in the picture, it held a meeting for members of community councils last night.

Representatives of Lochardil and Drummond, Crown, Culcabock and Drakies, Holm, Inverness South and Hilton, Milton and Castle Heather Community Councils were given a preview.

The company lodged an outline planning application in July to build a £27 million, 45,000 sq ft superstore, off the trunk link route (TLR).

Earlier this year, Highland Council planners expressed concern at the size of the proposed store because it was almost twice the size allowed for in the city’s Local Plan.

Council planning director John Rennilson said then there would be “huge issues” to be addressed with the scheme which was to create around 400 new jobs.

It was said traffic and retail impact studies would be required with congestion a significant problem at the Inshes roundabout.

The application also includes the provision of five small retail units and a filling station with parking for 508 vehicles.

An artist’s impression of the planned superstore. One community council is anxious that, if the proposal gets to go-ahead, the screening scheme is actually carried out.

Elphinstone Land, which has a conditional contract to build the superstore, has put in a parallel application with plans for a 100-bed hotel and health centre on an adjacent site, which would create a neighbourhood centre.

“Highland Council planners initially expressed some misgivings about the development, particularly as regards the retail and traffic impact and asked for more details about our original application. We have been happy to supply these,” the store spokesman said.

Councillor Norrie Donald, whose Culduthel ward includes the proposed development site, said many residents were excited at the prospect of the supermarket coming in and he was getting the same message from the community councils he had spoken to.

“The general feeling is that Asda will help to bring prices down and give the consumer an alternative they don’t have at present,” he said.

However, Inverness South Community Councilsaid it had expressed a number of concerns about the proposals.

“We are concerned about adequate car parking at the new store as well as the impact of an increased traffic flow, particularly at the Inshes and Wade roundabouts,” said secretary Maureen Smith.

“Another area of concern is drainage. We feel there is a need for planners to consider possible flooding caused by the rapid expansion going on and the need for water management being built in to new development projects.

“We would also like the planners to make sure that the tasteful screening shown in the illustrations of the new store is actually carried out.”