First retail park for Leighton approved
The White Lion Retail Park, Dunstable
Claymore’s proposed retail park for Leighton has been approved by Central Beds Council’s development control committee this afternoon.
In the vote, 13 councillors were in favour, with four against, and one abstention.
The debate is now turning to a rival scheme from developers Barwood, before a second vote takes place later this afternoon.
The meeting at Chicksands saw a strong turn-out from the public who watched on as the rival developers presented their cases to build their retail park in Leighton.
In a report to the committee, planners had recommended approval for both schemes, but admitted there might not be enough demand for both retail parks in Grovebury Road and, if both are built, one might end up vacant.
Neither scheme, by rival developers Claymore and Barwood, include a DIY anchor unit of comparable size to the town’s existing Homebase - but they may not be moving as Tesco has yet to announce any start date for its expansion.
Friends of the Earth organised a campaign against the plans and protested at the council offices ahead of the meeting in a last ditch attempt at halting the proposals.
See our reporter’s live updates on twitter from the meeting @LBOamanda and @LBOnews.
And see this website for further updates and also next week’s LBO for an in-depth report.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 13 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
