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Member of Parliament for Amber Valley

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Morrisons Application

On Monday 10th March 2014, the Amber Valley Borough Council Planning Board is due to meet to discuss the proposed Morrisons development.

The Officers of the Council have recommended that the Council rejects the Morrisons development. As those of you who have followed my views on this matter already know, I, like many local residents, have always thought that a supermarket sitting so close to the town would damage the town centre. I do not support the proposed development.

I have written to the ruling group members of the Planning Board in advance of this meeting to strongly urge them not to ignore the Officers’ advice on this matter, and a copy of the body of my letter is below:

7 March 2014

Planning Board 10th March 2013 – “Morrisons” Application

I am writing regarding the agenda item for Monday’s Planning Board meeting in relation to the proposed new food store and petrol station on the edge of Ripley.

As you know this application and scheme has long been controversial in Ripley, and my view has always been that there is no need for a new supermarket in the Ripley area, and the siting of one on the edge of the town was highly likely to be damaging to the viability of the town centre. Such a development was therefore, in my view, always likely to be contrary to the local plan.

I therefore welcome that the Officers’ recommendation in for the meeting next week is that the Application should be rejected on the grounds that it “would have a significant adverse impact [on] the vitality and viability of Ripley Town Centre”.

In the 10 years since I was first elected to the Borough Council I cannot recall an example of where the Planning Board have overridden Officers’ advice to reject an application, and it strikes me that the advice is clearly the correct outcome this time.

I would therefore urge you to accept the Officers’ advice and vote to protect Ripley Town Centre by rejecting the Application.

While I’m sure there will be pressure from the Applicant and others to continue with the scheme associated with the Morrisons Application, the evidence is clear in the Officers’ report that the scheme would overall be detrimental for the Town and therefore should be rejected.