Plans Submitted To Replace Yate B&Q

Local press has reported that a B&Q store in Yate has attracted the interest of planners keen to convert it into two separate units.

South Gloucestershire council received a submission from Harmsworth Pensions Funds Trustees Limited, requesting permission to change the use of the building to enable an Aldi and a 'discount variety store' to open on the site.  B&Q's lease is not due to be renewed until 2021.

The request states:

"The application is being pursued to enable the existing floorspace to be occupied by alternative retailers. Whilst the unit is currently occupied by the national DIY retailer B&Q, there is substantial uncertainty that the existing lease will be renewed given the changes in the retail sector and specifically the DIY market, and the strategic approach of B&Q as a business to consolidate and rationalise their existing offer. This is evidenced across the UK and locally by the closure of B&Q at Stoke Gifford (also within the administrative area of South Gloucestershire Council). That unit has been re-occupied by other operators.

"The existing retail unit and garden centre extend to some 3,422 square metres (inclusive of first floor of 183 square metres but exclusive of garden centre) with a large dedicated car park to the west and servicing to the north via a dedicated service road that runs off the eastern arm of roundabout junction of Home Orchard and Poole Court Drive. 

"No increase in floorspace is proposed. Instead, planning permission is sought to enable the existing retail unit (Class A1) to be occupied by 2no. retailers, including a discount foodstore. The floorspace of each unit to be created is as follows:

- Unit A (Aldi): 1,840 square metres (gross internal area)
-  Unit B (Discount Variety Store): 1,582 square metres (gross internal area)"

Full details can be found on the council's planning portal, here. 

A B&Q spokesperson told Gazette Series:

"We are committed to having a store in the Yate area. The proposed planning application is in its early stages and we need to let it run its course."

B&Q is understood to be reopening its Yate and Cribbs Causeway stores at the start of next month, having opened the majority of its branches during the last two weeks of April.

Source : Insight DIY Team

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