Retail giants and small traders fight plans for new superstore

Councillors will decide next week on plans for the multi-million pound store, to be run by an as yet unnamed operator, at the junction of Holderness Road with Mount Pleasant.

Barnsley-based Dransfield Properties, which developed The Mount retail park opposite with its large Asda store, say it will create as many as 400 jobs. All the businesses fronting Holderness Road – due to be replaced by eight new units – have been relocated bar two.

The Mount Pleasant retail park which hosts an Asda and Morrisons further down Holderness Road – the two stores which planners say will be worst affected – and Princes Quay shopping centre have objected.

Opponents say the scale of the development – bigger than the Morrisons store – is “totally inappropriate”. It is estimated to have a convenience goods turnover of £37.44m and a total turnover of £54.97m – greater, according to opponents, than that of the district shopping centre as a whole. They state: “The vitality and viability of Holderness Road district centre is of particular concern.”

However, planners are recommending conditional approval for the scheme, with a final decision being taken by the Secretary of State.

Neville Martin, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said independent retailers had been “completely ignored”.

“Every supermarket that’s constructed kills 50 small businesses; it’s just shifting jobs from self-employed businesses to people who have to become employed assistants in superstores,” he said.

The council received nearly 100 pro forma letters backing the development.

Agents for it say spin-off spending from shoppers will more than offset any lost business to the High Street and claim there is a “clear need” for the scheme.

Amanda Holmes, from Dransfield Properties, said: “Our company has delivered several successful developments bringing millions of pounds of investment to this part of the city over the last 10 years including The Mount Retail Park.

“Throughout that time there has been a long held aspiration for a food led retail development on this site giving the shoppers of East Hull greater choice.

“There is a great deal of local support for our plans which have been carefully designed to encourage linked shopping trips and regenerate this run down site. Not only will the development create up to 400 new jobs, we have also successfully relocated several local businesses.”