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South Leeds: What’s in store for Middleton supermarket site?
STORE PROPOSAL: An artists impressions of the Asda plan.
An ambitious supermarket plan, that has been beset by delays, finally looks set to go ahead.
Rival chains, Asda and Tesco, battled it out over the prospect of building a new store in Middleton before Leeds City Council’s Plans Panel East backed Asda in February 2010.
But the relocation of Brandon Medical, a firm located on land earmarked by Asda, and gaining legal permission to move an access road to a waste disposal site delayed the build.
Coun Kim Groves (Lab, Middleton Park) said that around 60 per cent of the estimated 375 full and part-time jobs created at the store will go to unemployed local people.
She said: “With the scale of unemployment that we face we set up a jobs and skills board to fully focus on Middleton and Belle Isle so we can ensure local jobs for local people.”
Work on the proposed 36,000 sq ft store finally appears to be nearing a start date as Brandon Medical’s new premises looks set to be agreed.
And legal work involved in taking over the site is expected to be complete by April ahead of a targeted 2013 opening date.
Coun Geoff Driver (Lab, Middleton Park) said: “The bottom line is we want Asda to get on there as soon as possible and we’re not in any position to do anything else other than encourage them on.”
Tesco originally submitted a rival planning application for a store on nearby land on the site of Benyon House, in Middleton Ring Road, but it was rejected in favour of Asda’s plan.
The companies’ proposals had many similarities – both promising to make hundreds of jobs available to local people, landscaping the area and providing £1million for transport.
Planning consultants hired by the council advised that just one of the proposals should be accepted, as allowing two would hit trade in Middleton Circus and elsewhere.
Asda’s slow moving development, which had a target opening date of November 2011, led to Tesco resubmitting a planning application last year.
Coun Judith Blake (Lab, Middleton Park) said: “They went through the process and realised it was a non-starter as Tesco actually owned the site without having planning permission.”
She said Tesco are looking to submit a planning application for the site for other uses.
Dot Mounteney, chairman of Middleton Community Group who initially backed Asda’s plans, said: “It’s expensive up here and you have got the post office but you end up paying quite a lot of money when there’s not much choice.”
The store, close to Middleton District Shopping Centre, would feature around 330 car parking spaces as well as a petrol filling station.
Philip Bartram, Asda’s senior property communications manager, said: “We will be starting this complex development later this summer with the demolition of existing buildings and the construction of the new access road to the recycling centre.”
Visit www.asdamiddleton.co.uk for more information.
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