Outcome of the Retail Planning Inquiry in Berwick

Release date: 11.01.08
Ref: BBC/PR/01/R&D/08

The Government have today (Friday, 11 January) announced the results of the Planning Inquiry into five proposed retail developments in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

The Government have approved the schemes for:
• Tesco at Ord Road (Application by the Raven Group Developments)
• Morrison’s extension (Application submitted by William Morrison Supermarket PLC)
• Non-food retail development adjacent to the Morrison’s supermarket (Application by Ediston and the Berwick-upon-Tweed (Freeman) Trustees).

All three applications are subject to conditions which have been set by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

The appeal of the application for a site at the Tweedside Trading Estate (made by Kensington and Edinburgh Estates) has been dismissed and the called in application by the Kilmartin Property Group for retail development at Ord Road, Tweedmouth has been refused.

The developments were originally considered by Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council in 2005. The Planning Committee approved the Tesco and Kilmartin application and refused other applications. At a subsequent planning meeting the Morrison’s extension was also approved. The Government decided to call in all the applications and a Planning Inquiry took place between 24 October 2006 and 10 May 2007.

The Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State agreed in the main with the assessment the Council made at the time of the original decisions - namely capacity and need for one supermarket, one non-food retail development and the supermarket extension existed. However, on balance the Planning Inspector and Secretary of State decided that the landscape impact of the Ediston scheme was less damaging than the Kilmartin scheme on Ord Road.

Leader of Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council Isabel Hunter said:
“The findings of the Planning Inquiry published today should hopefully provide clarification for local people about what retail developments will be taking place in Berwick over the next few years.

“Officers at the Council will now begin considering the findings of the Inquiry, and the conditions set by the Secretary of State, and looking at the implications for Berwick and the surrounding areas,” she said.

A copy of the results of the Planning Inquiry is available at the Planning Reception at the Council Offices, Wallace Green.