A Dundee councillor has said she is “at a loss” to explain why two new businesses were denied the chance to open at a city retail park.
Archers Sleep Centre and Bensons for Beds were signed up to share the empty premises at Dundee’s Kingsway West Retail Park.
The move required planning permission to subdivide a building previously home to Furniture Mountain.
But councillors agreed with officers’ recommendation to refuse the move in order to protect businesses in town centres and high streets in a meeting on Monday.
Speaking at the planning committee, Councillor Georgia Cruickshank said she cannot understand the reasoning.
Kingsway West Retail Park was ‘designed for bulky goods stores’
The Scottish Labour member for Maryfield pointed to the intended purpose of retail parks.
She said: “If you look around, all the major stores: Robertson’s (former furniture store), the likes of Draffens (former department store) and all of them that used to sell these goods, are no longer in the city centre.
“That’s why the Kingsway Retail Park and the Gallagher Retail Park came into being, to accommodate these types of bulky goods.”
Ms Cruickshank added she believes an opportunity will be lost.
She said: “I think they would be more suited to those areas rather than than the city centre…We need to be bringing shops that people will shop in to the city centre.
“So, this has been sitting for six years and here’s a proposal to subdivide the unit and accommodate two stores, so I’m at a loss as to why the recommendation is to refuse.”
‘Town centres first’ principle
However, Gregor Hamilton, the council’s head of planning and economic development, said retail parks are not accessible to all and that bed stores are where people select items for delivery rather than drive to collect from.
He said: “The realities with a lot of the bulky goods that are sold from some retail units at Kingsway West, beds, carpets, these are not taken away on the day, by and large.
“The majority of times, they are delivered to the customer’s homes. So, there is no need for these (bed stores) to be located on a retail park and these are less accessible to those that don’t have access to a car.”
The council’s town centres first principle was introduced as part of a national planning framework designed by the Scottish Government.
It is part of Dundee City Council’s local development plan of 2019 that aims to improve and protect footfall in the city centre and district high streets.
Mr Hamilton added: “Through the town centres first principle, our first choice is always that these uses should be within the city centres and only if there are no suitable buildings or sites available.
“It’s for that reason that the recommendation in the report tonight is that this application be refused.”
Council officer does not know of any similar city centre units
After Mr Hamilton explained the need to attract businesses and shoppers to the city centre, Councillor Peter Shears, Scottish Labour councillor for The Ferry asked: “Roughly, do we know how many units are empty in the city centre that would be as ready as this unit seems to be?”
Mr Hamilton said he did not have this information to hand.
The plan was rejected on the basis of a clause introduced 20 years ago when the retail park was expanded by developers Ravenside Investments, which states all units at the park must be at least 929m2.
The clause is designed to ensure the park consists of larger premises which cannot be accommodated in high streets and the city centre.
The application was submitted by Luxembourg-registered company Kingsway West SARL, which owns the park.
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