B&M Blocked From Opening in Former Springkerse Homebase

Stirling Council has refused to grant planning permission to allow B&M to move into a former Homebase unit in Springkerse Retail Park.

The conditions do not currently allow for the sale of food goods at the store and the council decided that if they were to allow the change, there would be negative repercussions for footfall in the town centre.

The application was submitted in October last year ahead of the closure of the Homebase store at the end of the year, which resulted in the loss of 65 jobs.  

The council said that the Stirling Local Development Plan 2018 had identified that town centres were the preferred location for uses which generate significant footfall, including retail.  They noted that that the retail park should be 'a location for household (bulky) goods retail only, to complement and not compete with the city centre'.

B&M had said that it intended to keep its existing store in the city centre's Kerse Road, and the council acknowledged that in doing so, the new store would have offset the job losses that occurred when Homebase closed.  However, the planners expressed concern that these circumstances could change in the future, given that the existing B&M store would be selling the same items.

B&M stated that it planned to invest over £1m in the site, with £400k spent on fit-out costs and £700k in recruitment and training.

Source : Insight DIY Team