Sainsbury's application site visit

The site visit took place this morning for the application to build a Sainsbury's Local store in part of the Badminton Arms car park.

Claire Young spoke as local member, summarising the 200+ responses she's had to her survey. Just over 60% of those replying oppose the application. The biggest concern expressed was the impact on the existing shops and members of the committee asked for clarification on where they are. Highway safety was another worry, with reduced parking on site potentially leading to vehicles pulling up on the busy Badminton Road and concerns around the safety of the access and the location of the loading bay.

Claire asked members of the committee to look at where the neighbouring houses were in relation to the site, to consider the impact on them, and talked about the character of the village. This issue was picked up by Dave Hockey when he talked about the Village Design Statement after rain forced the meeting inside (see above). A Westerleigh Parish Councillor and two local residents also spoke about their concerns.

The meeting then moved back outside so that officers could demonstrate the footprint of the store to members. The Chair of the committee confirmed that the decision will be made at the Development Control (East) committee meeting starting at 3pm on Thursday 10th April in Kingswood Civic Centre.

Edited on 2nd April: The case officer has now informed Claire Young that the committee won't make their decision until their meeting on Thursday 8th May in Kingswood Civic Centre.