Asda hopes to hear soon if it has been able to defeat an attempt by rival Tesco to block its plans to build a £24 million store at the former NCR factory site on the Gourdie Industrial Estate in Dundee.
Tesco operates a store about 500 metres away in South Road and it sought a judicial review after Asda and its partner Macdonald Estates were granted outline planning permission by Dundee City Council. There was a hearing three months ago but the judge Lord Brailsford has yet to deliver his ruling.
Asda and Macdonald Estates held a consultation meeting on Saturday to show off their plans to the public, including extensive changes to the Kingsway/Myrekirk Road junction.
Macdonald’s development manager Niall McLean said, “We are keen to hear the outcome of the judicial review. There is no formal timetable but we have been told it should be reasonably soon.
“We have not downed tools we have still been working on the lay-out and the materials so we can deliver the store as quickly as possible.”
He said he understood Tesco’s wish to protect its commercial position but he believed it would be good for shoppers to have Asda provide competition.
The proposed store which would be the company’s third in the city would employ up to 480 full-time and part-time staff. It would have a petrol station and space for 570 cars.
Mr McLean said the new timetable adopted by Travel Dundee buses would allow for services to visit the store.
He added that the roundabout at the Kingsway/Myrekirk Road junction would be extended and given a lozenge shape. Traffic lights would also be installed along with pedestrian crossings.Accessible”We have discussed this with Dundee City Council and Transport Scotland. We want to make the site as accessible as possible,” he said. “It can be difficult to cross at Myrekirk Road because of the pace of the traffic on Kingsway but this should slow it.”
The consultation meeting was held at the sheltered housing complex in Craigowan Road. The Charleston estate is the closest residential area to the proposed store, although it is on the opposite side of Kingsway.
“There has been a good turnout, we are very pleased,” Mr McLean said. “There was lots of interest in the proposal and questions about when the store will open.
“The timing is in the hands of others. We are anxious to get on with it.”
Visitors were able to fill in questionnaires on the plans and make comments. Asda and Macdonald Estates intend to lodge a detailed planning application with the council soon.
Tesco claimed when it sought the judicial review that planning policies had been breached when outline consent was granted. It suggested its former site at the Stack Leisure Park in Lochee would be a more suitable location but Asda said it was too small.