Sainsbury’s store looks set to be built in Alsager after 10-year delay

The supermarket giant secured permission for the new store on the site of the former Twyford Bathrooms off Linley Lane in 2014 but it never materialised.

On Wednesday, Cheshire East’s strategic planning board will consider a revised application for the scheme, which the council’s planning officers have recommended for approval.

In a letter to the council, Alder King, the planning consultants representing Sainsbury’s, said: “The revisions reflect changes in the viability of the scheme resulting from increased development costs and a significantly different retail trading environment since the development was originally granted.”

The application site off Linley Lane in Alsager (Image: Google)

The physical amendments applied for include:

• The removal of the previously proposed coffee shop and other internal changes;
• Addition of solar panels to the roof of the building;
• Reduction in size of the car park to reflect current projected demand;
• Reduction in size of the petrol filling station and conversion to unmanned operation;
• Creation of area next to petrol station, reserved for future development;
• Revision to culvert drainage strategy.

Sainsbury’s has also applied to vary the S106 agreement.

The proposed changes would see a contribution of £100,000 towards a bus service; £100,000 towards footway widening works along Linley Lane; £200,000 towards junction improvement works at Linley Lane / B5077  and £100,000 towards highway improvement works in the local area.

The covering letter states: “The store is still proposed to be sited in the same location, as is the petrol station.

“There is no change to the size of the proposed retail trading area of the store, however the size of the building is reduced from the permitted store because it is no longer proposed to include a customer café within the building.

“The car park is proposed to be reduced in size from 302 spaces in the approved scheme to 249, reflecting current anticipated demand.”

The company says since the original scheme was proposed in 2013, shopping habits have changed with more people shopping online.

It also argues the demand for parking spaces has reduced because, with more people working from home, customers can shop more easily at other times of the day.

Cheshire East highways officers have said because of the potential issues of displacement parking following the recent decision to introduce parking charges in Alsager, Sainsbury’s has agreed to a maximum two hour parking period at its store.

Nine residents have written to the council supporting the amended application and five have written to object.

In the report due to go before Wednesday’s meeting, Cheshire East’s planning officer says the application is to make changes to the previously agreed application and ‘it is not possible to reconsider the principle of this development’.

The officer adds: “The scheme proposed as part of this application would not cause harm in terms of residential amenity, design, trees, ecology, flood risk/drainage, pollution or highways.”

The application is recommended for approval and the planning meeting takes place at 10am on Wednesday, April 24, at Macclesfield Town Hall.