Go-ahead for supermarket in Neston town centre

Jun 18 2008 by Carrie Catterall, Neston News

Neston Sainsbury's unhappy residents

A HUGE change is afoot for Neston town centre after superstore giant Sainsbury’s was granted permission to move in.

The transformation of the South Wirral market town was decided at a heated planning meeting held last Thursday night at Neston Civic Hall.

Of the five Labour councillors left on the Planning Committee after declarations of interest forced Conservative councillors to excuse themselves, four voted in favour of the £20m development, while one abstained.

This gave the green light to the development of a 33,500 sq ft supermarket and a 235-space decked car park situated between High Street, Raby Road and Brook Street.

As part of the same development, a new square will also be created to house the weekly Friday market and monthly farmers’ market.

Supporters of the development, who were given three minutes each to speak at the meeting, said Neston was currently “dying on its feet” because 70pc of local households did their main food shopping outside the town.

They maintained that the new store would retain shoppers in Neston and this in turn would benefit the smaller surrounding shops.

Objectors, who also had three minutes each to speak, said the new supermarket would force the closure of existing businesses and the road infrastructure surrounding the Sainsbury’s site would be unable to cope with the inevitable increased traffic.

Guy Illingworth, managing director of developers CTP, told the meeting: “The development is a major vote of confidence in Neston, by us and by Sainsbury’s.”

Following the meeting, Phillip Bates, chairman of Neston and District Chamber of Commerce, said: “This planning permission is sorely needed to regenerate Neston.”

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