Whilst we have played a pivotal role in new stores opening at Newport, South Wales and Seaton, Devon, our transport planning teams have also been busy, with planning permission granted for three food store proposals. A new store has been approved for Southend, whilst extensions to existing stores have been delivered for Tesco at Shirebrook and at the Mereway Shopping Centre in Northampton.
Located on the site of a former B&Q store, the 80,000sq.ft development at Southend involved the modification and amendment to local highway junctions and the use of VISSIM Micro-simulation modelling to demonstrate that the proposals would not compromise the operation of the local highway network.
Comprising an extension to the existing store and development of new non-food retail floor space at Shirebrook, we engaged in extensive discussions with the local authority to demonstrate that the package of measures to be delivered through a planning obligation and appropriately worded conditions was suitable to mitigate the effect of the development.
At Northampton, we helped to deliver an extension to the Tesco food store of almost 30,000sq.ft. The traffic conditions at the site, located close to the A45 were of particular interest to the Highways Agency and new access options were prepared to redistribute local vehicle movements and mitigate the effect of the development.