Plans approved for new Exeter 'retail park'

It would be built on land next to the Tesco Extra superstore.

Plans for a new ‘retail park’ on land next to Exeter’s Vale Extra Tesco superstore have been approved.

The scheme, submitted back in December 2017, has finally been given approval by Exeter City Council planners.

It would see a new 1,230 square metre building with 46 parking spaces built on land inside the existing, huge overflow car park off Russell Way.

No details as to the occupants of the store have been revealed, but the application was for a non-food retail unit.

Documents with the application, submitted by Tesco, said that the proposal would not materially impact on the vitality or viability of Exeter city centre or any other defined centres, the number of vacant units in the city centre is unlikely to increase as a result of this proposal, and that the application site was the most appropriate for the scheme.

The application was given planning permission by city council officers under delegated powers last week.

It is one of five out-of-town retail park for which applications were before Exeter City Council planners, and had been referred to as such in documents for the other applications that had gone before the planning committee.

The other retail schemes still on the table for consideration by Exeter City Council are:

• The redevelopment of Western Power Distribution’s site off Honiton Road
• Seven shopping units to be built on the site of the B&Q superstore at Avocet Road, along with cafes and restaurants
• Eight new retail units along with three food and drink restaurants at the HQ of Devon and Cornwall Police at Middlemoor
• The redevelopment of the Moor Exchange off Honiton Road site for 13 units, which could include a Next, M&S Simply Food, Boots, a drive-through McDonalds, a drive-through Costa, a yet-to-be-named discount food retailer, a post office, a newsagent, a bank, a gym, a restaurant, a hot food takeaway unit and a shop.

Planners rejected a version of the Moor Exchange scheme last summer, but applicants CPG resubmitted a revised version the following month.

The Middlemoor scheme was deferred by the council’s planning committee in October after officers recommended it be refused over the effect it would have on the transport network.

The WPD and B&Q applications have yet to reach the stage where they go before a planning committee, which all four retail park applications yet to be determined.