Exeter council expected to approve plans for £60m IKEA store

SOUTH Devon's new £60m Ikea store is expected to get the official go ahead shortly.

The store on the outskirts of Exeter would be the first south of Bristol.

The furniture giant and Exeter City Council are continuing to thrash out planning agreements prior to the arrival of the furniture superstore in South Devon.

Ikea, which has predicted that it will have an annual turnover of £52m by 2018 and will bring 256 full time jobs to Exeter, was granted outline planning permission for a store close to Sandy Park in January.

An IKEA spokeswoman said: “Following the recommendation of our outline planning application in January we have been working closely with Exeter City Council to tie up the legal agreements needed to allow them to issue the planning consent for the site, which we expect shortly.

“Once the planning consent is issued we will work towards providing detailed final designs to the council for approval.”

A spokesman for the city council said that ‘expect shortly’ was correct.

Ikea is to be built off the A379, just up from Sandy Park and off the Tesco Extra junction on Newcourt Way.

The 28,000m² store would provide 200 construction jobs.

Source : Torquay Herald Express
www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/South-Devon-Ikea-store-step-closer/story-24892485-detail/story.html