Discount retailer B&M are taking another shot at plans to take over the former Homebase premises at Springkerse Retail Park.
Homebase closed the store at the end of 2018 with the loss of 65 jobs. It has been lying vacant since then.
B&M currently have another store in the city’s Kerse Road - which they say in their latest application they would retain for at least three years once the new store opens.
At the moment, stores operating at Springkerse are restricted to the sale of household goods with sales of food not allowed. The application seeks to vary a condition of a previous planning consent, to allow for the sale of food and non-food goods.
Since the retail park was built around two decades ago, Stirling Council has fended off a number of attempts to alter conditions on the types of retail outlets which are allowed to operate there, in a bid to protect the viability of Stirling’s city centre.
An attempt in the Court of Session in 2015, by Springkerse Phase One, owners Coal Pensions Properties, to have a similar condition lifted was turned down.
B&M withdrew an application in 2020 after council planners indicated it would be refused.
The latest proposal would allow them to sell a range of ancillary goods at the former Homebase store and the retailer says the scope of their proposed condition has now been amended and the variation involves only “the equivalent of a single small shop unit within the city centre”.
Under their proposal additional categories of goods would only be allowed “where they are sold by a single retailer on an ancillary and/or incidental basis to the main goods permitted” and there would be no retail sales of watches, jewellery, tobacco, books or newspapers, or pharmaceutical goods.
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It would also remove most of the mezzanine floor on the premises with the remainder used only as storage/warehousing, thereby reducing the proportion of out of centre retail space.
The applicants say they have found no evidence to suggest that the proposal would be materially harmful to the city centre.
In documents submitted with the application, agents said: “The application does not seek an unrestricted Class 1 permission, rather a user specific condition has been drafted which meets the particular requirements of B&M Retail Ltd.”
They added: “The B&M Homestore at Kerse Road is deficient. It occupies a poor quality building with limited space and there is no ability to provide a garden centre. The car parking available to customers is restricted and it pre-dates the company’s evolving business model, which seeks to use larger format units capable of displaying its full product range.
“There is significant loss of trade from Stirling to centres further afield and in the absence of improved shopping provision locally, the loss of trade and the unsustainable nature of car borne journeys, will continue and become exacerbated.
“The B&M Homestore Ltd would occupy vacant retail space within the commercial centre which is agreed to provide a regional scale role ie encompassing not only the whole of Stirling, but adjacent areas. The primary nature of the Class 1 use would remain, consistent with the function of the centre in meeting bulky household goods shopping needs.
“Our analysis confirms there’s no suitable and viable alternatives.
“The ability to deliver a significant amount of new employment [around 70 full and part time jobs], is perhaps one of a number of benefits to which substantial weight must be afforded.
“There is in addition, a clear and urgent need to secure a sustainable, long term future of the former Homebase store and the commercial reality is there is no occupational interest from any of the pure DIY retailers. B&Q and Wickes are already operating from the retail park and these operators will be the primary competitors to a B&M Homestore.”
Council planners are expected to make a recommendation on the application in due course.
