A WAITROSE plan for Solihull town centre should be approved next week, a council planning officer
has said.
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The plan to knock down St
Catharine’s Court offices and an adjacent building, both in Homer Road, should
be approved, the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council officer said.
The planning committee will
be asked to make a decision when it meets on Wednesday.
The single-storey supermarket
would have 1,743sqm of retail floor space and café with access from Homer Road
It would include a warehouse
and 198 parking spaces – 12 disabled – over a three-storey car park.
It would create 150 jobs, the
firm said, and be open from 7.30am
to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm Sunday and bank holidays.
Three letters were sent to
the council opposing the plans, including one from Lendlease representing
Touchwood Shopping Centre, and another from West Midlands Police.
This included concerns about
queuing and the the “impact on the operation of the John Lewis car parks”.
They said: “There is an
abundance of supermarkets both in the centre and at Sainsbury’s Dorridge; Asda
at Shirley and Waitrose in Knowle in the pipeline.
“Problems will be caused to
drivers on Homer
Road Homer Road
But the council officer said
the offices had been empty since 2012 and marketed unsuccessfully since 2008.
It “does much to improve this
key corner location” and “strengthen the link with the town centre which generates
pedestrian movements to and from the railway station and bus interchange, and
increase the appeal and usage of the path to Tudor Grange Park
A Waitrose 1,161sqm sales
area plan for Knowle was approved in 2012 and work is underway on a 2,276sqm
sales area Sainsbury’s in Dorridge, to open by Christmas.
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