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RPS has recently secured planning permission for a second significant proposal for AXA Sun Life plc at their existing retail park in Wolverhampton. The site: Bentley Bridge Shopping Park, is a 200,000 square feet out-of-centre retail park with the floor-space predominately benefiting from unfettered non-food retail use.

Following a comprehensive Planning Opinion in October 2008, RPS has subsequently been instructed on upwards of ten separate projects at the site. Most notably, following eight months of intensive negotiations with Wolverhampton City Council, consent was obtained for the refurbishment, subdivision and extension of the former Mecca Bingo unit (40,000 sq. ft.), which had been vacant for nearly a decade. The development has secured three new tenants at the Park including Aldi, Pure Gym (a 24 hour gym operator) and Just for Pets. The proposals incorporated a series of use-swaps at the park which were secured by way of an S106 Agreement.

The Council was particularly concerned about the impact of the discount foodstore on the adjacent Wednesfield Town Centre. After two committee resolutions and protracted discussions regarding the intricate wording of a legal agreement, planning permission was granted in October 2009. All three units are now open and trading well.

RPS successfully negotiated a further permission at the park which was approved in December 2009. Consent was obtained to change the use of one of the retail units to a restaurant with the retail floor-space lost being proposed as mezzanines across a number of the adjacent retail units. It was argued that there was no net increase in retail floor area and this ultimately circumvented the Council’s adopted UDP policy precluding any further comparison goods floor-space beyond the town centre. The application has paved the way for a Pan Asian restaurant occupier, Cosmo, to complete a 15-year lease on the unit. In addition, as a result of the mezzanine floor-space achieved, similar deals with JD Sports and Next are nearing completion. All of the units had been vacant since they were constructed in 2005 and, as such, the success of the application has been particularly significant for the client.

RPS provided transport advice in relation to both applications and provided accompanying Transport Statements justifying the proposals. Subsequently, S278 Highway drawings were produced and negotiations regarding the S278 Agreement undertaken; enabling the development to progress and open.

Such have been the successes at Bentley Bridge over the last 18 months that RPS has now been instructed by AXA on two more of its significant landholdings: in Bracknell and Eastleigh.

Contact:
Tim Rainbird
T: +44 (0) 20 7939 8000
E: rainbirdT@rpsgroup.com