Waitrose hails "positive" response to new plan

WAITROSE says it has had an “incredibly positive” response to a new store plan for Knowle.

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It said more than 1,000 residents who visited an exhibition in the village hall on Friday and Saturday mostly backed the plans (above).

The firm has scrapped plans to knock down the village hall, in St John’s Close, for a smaller store on an un-used bowling green by The Red Lion car park.

The original plan proposed a new village hall on the bowling green. Waitrose says the existing hall would now be refurbished.

Five bungalows nearest the village hall would be demolished to make way for 257 car parking spaces compared to 180 proposed before.

The five neighbouring bungalows, closer to Station Road, would be kept instead of being re-located as originally proposed.

Five would be rebuilt by the Royal Mail sorting office, a move that would knock down the old police house.

The overall size of the store would be 19,900sqft compared to 26,250sqft before, a reduction of 24 per cent.

The sales area would be reduced from 15,000sqft to 12,500sqft, a reduction of ten per cent. Knowle Tesco is 5,995sqft.

An exhibition was held on the previous plans in January last year and a planning application later submitted to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, which has now been withdrawn.

Waitrose spokesman Rob Cadwell said of the response: “On the whole, it has been incredibly positive and that reflected by the fact we have listened to people’s concerns raised by the previous exhibition.

“We are continuing to listen to all the things that were brought up and will keep people involved throughout the process.”

Another key change is the delivery route, with two daily articulated lorries a day proposed via junction 15 of the M40 via the Warwick Road and Station Road.

The lorries would enter via the service entrance to the left of Wine Rack on Station Road.



The previous plan proposed two daily deliveries via the M42 and High Street and right into St John’s Close by Loch Fyne.

Mr Cadwell said delivery times were not known but would avoid peak hours and the school run.

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