Sainsbury’s Preston Village application is refused

Sainsbury’s application to open a supermarket on Preston Road on the site of the former Caffyns car showroom has been rejected this afternoon by Brighton and Hove City Council‘s planning committee.

Councillors were unanimous in their decision to throw out the application on safety grounds and on the negative affect the supermarket would have on local businesses.

The plan, which was amended from a previously refused application, was to convert much of the existing premises into two retail outlets, one a Sainsbury’s outlet and one selling non-food goods, which could possibly have been a pet store.

Concerns were raised about the plan for Sainsbury’s delivery lorries in excess of 10m long to access the site from an entrance on Cumberland Road and use what would be the customer car park to turn around before leaving where they entered.

The second store would have used Lauriston Road to unload deliveries.

The application, which had been minded to grant by council’s planning officers, was resounding rejected to the cheers and loud applause of a number in the public gallery, including the owner of the nearby convenience store, Preston News.

Councillors agreed the ‘vitality and viability’ of local businesses would be unduly affected by granting Sainsbury’s permission to open what would be their ninth store in the city.

The Green Party had last week voiced their fears that the application was being rushed through and urged the plan to be thrown out.

The Green lead candidate for Withdean Sue Shanks had said: “Local Conservative councillors need to take a stand on the issue of supermarket growth. In my view the site is much better suited to small shops and housing.

“Green candidates oppose the Preston Village supermarket plan both on planning grounds – especially road safety – and also on principle.”

In a dramatic council planning meeting, which also saw two major housing developments and the Brighton O ferris wheel approved, a member of the public stormed into the council chamber at Hove Town Hall and threw objects at councillor Trevor Alford before being leaving as security was called by committee chair Lynda Hyde.

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Posted by on April 27, 2011. Filed under Brighton and Hove News,Featured,Withdean. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry