Supermarket gets approval for extension
The proposed extension will be used to package and process home delivery and click and collect orders
A major supermarket has been given approval for a store extension to facilitate home shopping and a click and collect service.
Planners at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council have approved plans put forward by Morrisons store in Leek, for a store extension with vehicle parking canopy and walkway canopy, all within the existing service yard, to facilitate a proposed home shopping offer.
Leek Town Council also recommend approval of the application.
A decision report by case officer Ailsa Berry reads: “The extension will be used to facilitate the supermarket’s home shopping and click and collect service.
“The proposed development will be sited within the northeastern part of the existing service yard and will comprise a covered walkway from the rear of the supermarket that will be constructed of a steel frame with steel columns and a profiled aluminium sheet roof.
"The walkway will have a height of 2.5 metres and will provide access to a single storey extension that will measure 18.7 metres x 11.4 metres with an eaves height of 3.5 metres and an overall height of 4.3 metres.
“The extension will be constructed of insulated composite cladding to both the walls and roof, and the roof will be mono-pitched, sloping upwards towards the existing supermarket building.
"A canopy will be constructed at the end of the extension that will comprise 3-bays for the parking of home delivery vehicles, to allow them to load. The canopy will be constructed of the same materials as the covered walkway and will have an overall height of three metres.
“The proposed extension will be used to package and process home delivery and click and collect orders. This will consist of an area where trays containing customer orders can be stacked ready to be manually loaded onto a delivery van parked within the three proposed bays, or to the customers parked within the click and collect parking bays to be located within the existing supermarket car park.
“The proposed extension will be partially visible from Junction Road to the east. However, the road is at a higher level than the application site and a dense belt of trees is planted between the road and the supermarket.
"This will ensure that the proposed extension is not visually prominent from the road. The proposed extension will be single storey and therefore subservient to the existing building and sited to the rear of the store, within the existing service area, in an unobtrusive location.
“The supermarket currently offers a home delivery service and the delivery vans currently use the service yard.
"There are at present no planning conditions restricting operating hours or delivery times at the service yard or supermarket as a whole. The click and collect service will be new. The proposed hours of operation for van departures will be 7.45am – 8.30pm.
“The Environmental Health Officer has reviewed the application, and due to the potential for noise disturbance to neighbouring properties, he has requested that a condition is attached that prevents the loading and unloading of home delivery vehicles between the hours of 9pm and 7am hours. This is considered reasonable.
“The proposed extension will house a freezer roomdnd refrigerated storage for items that need to be kept cold.
“It is not considered that the proposed extension will impede the existing delivery area and therefore it will not result in an impact on highway safety.”
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