After a deferral earlier this month, plans for the supermarket at Meols Cop retail park were approved by Sefton Council.

The proposal was previously deferred on the 3 July planning committee to allow sufficient time for Members to give full consideration to “significant new information” that had been submitted on the day of planning committee.

Planning permission was granted by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in December 2016 following a public inquiry, but the application has since been reconfigured and downsized from the original application of 120,000 sq ft to 80,000 sq ft, with a net internal sales area of 50,600 sq ft. This is a 30,000 sq ft reduction in retail space from the original planning permission.

Despite these alterations, the project remained contentious. The council received a petition containing 30 signatures, endorsed by Cllr John Pugh, against the development. The petition said that a new supermarket is unnecessary as the area is already well served; that new jobs might not be created from its opening; that there was no need for a petrol station; that there will be increased congestion; and that overall the scheme was not felt to bring benefit to the local area.

Objections were also received from Asda, Southport & Windsor Properties, and Cllr Tony Dawson.

The development is set to be built on three vacant retail units which are to be demolished, and will include a car park and petrol station.

The approval is subject to a further ruling by the Secretary of State, completion of Section 106 agreement to ensure Sainsbury’s existing Lord Street store would remain open for a minimum five-year period, a commitment to local labour provision, and a list of 35 building and operational clauses.

BNP Paribas Securities were the applicant, with Savills acting as the agent. Sainsbury’s professional team is made up with Todd & Ledson as the cost consultant, Vectos for transport, and Aspect Landscape Planning. Sefton is advised by Nexus.

The sooner they get the petrol station open the better, it probably means that Argos will close and move into the new shop as well.

it will be the biggest mistake ever traffic around here now is already backed up from kew roundabout to sussex rd lights most of the time you cannot turn left from peel st due to congestion blocking the box section in my opinion it will cause carnage

Originally Posted by pentax

it will be the biggest mistake ever traffic around here now is already backed up from kew roundabout to sussex rd lights most of the time you cannot turn left from peel st due to congestion blocking the box section in my opinion it will cause carnage

The council need to open up Foul Lane to relieve some of the extra traffic this will cause.

Why the need to demolish? The old homebase site is huge, could they not just use that rather than have it go to waste? And if it's not big enough then use another one of the empty retail units as a clothing or homeware section?

Originally Posted by bambi275

Why the need to demolish? The old homebase site is huge, could they not just use that rather than have it go to waste? And if it's not big enough then use another one of the empty retail units as a clothing or homeware section?

The old Homebase unit is falling apart, the roof leaks in countless places, most of the guttering is hanging off and the floor is mostly a patchwork of bodged repairs it's a case of cheaper to demolish than try to fix up.

All along they (Sainsbury's) have said they want the store to front onto Meols Cop Road.

Originally Posted by pentax

it will be the biggest mistake ever traffic around here now is already backed up from kew roundabout to sussex rd lights most of the time you cannot turn left from peel st due to congestion blocking the box section in my opinion it will cause carnage

The traffic lights at Butts Lane/Norwood Road are a contributing factor, I've lost count of the times I stop for red on Norwood Road for nothing to emerge from Butts Lane.

According to Sainsbury's experts and of course they're biassed there will be little increase in traffic as the cars that are travelling to Tesco will simply use Sainsbury instead, they also claim that once open the amount of traffic using the roundabout will decrease as cars will divert into Sainsbury's rather than carry on to Tesco.

Another claim is that the new traffic lights that are to be built at the redesigned entrance/exit on Meols Cop Road will create a break in traffic flow allowing cars out of Argameols Close.

Originally Posted by Ric

The council need to open up Foul Lane to relieve some of the extra traffic this will cause.

I've never understood why Foul Lane isn't opened up to allow traffic through, even better if they opened up Wennington Road as well.

Originally Posted by gsgsgs

The traffic lights at Butts Lane/Norwood Road are a contributing factor, I've lost count of the times I stop for red on Norwood Road for nothing to emerge from Butts Lane.

According to Sainsbury's experts and of course they're biassed there will be little increase in traffic as the cars that are travelling to Tesco will simply use Sainsbury instead, they also claim that once open the amount of traffic using the roundabout will decrease as cars will divert into Sainsbury's rather than carry on to Tesco.

Another claim is that the new traffic lights that are to be built at the redesigned entrance/exit on Meols Cop Road will create a break in traffic flow allowing cars out of Argameols Close.

Seems reasonable. A new store doesn't create more people with more money to spend and more food to buy. It just redistributes the same amount between an additional location

Originally Posted by gsgsgs

The old Homebase unit is falling apart, the roof leaks in countless places, most of the guttering is hanging off and the floor is mostly a patchwork of bodged repairs it's a case of cheaper to demolish than try to fix up.

All along they (Sainsbury's) have said they want the store to front onto Meols Cop Road.

Thanks for the info gsgsgs, just seems such a terrible waste of building materials. I quite often stay in Walthamstow and there is a huge Sainsbury's there on a similar site and that doesn't have frontage to the road yet is always busy, no need to change the orientation at all