M&S has planning permission for a foodhall on Leicester Street, Northwich, next to Aldi. Open 7am to 11pm, 157 customer spaces, about 70 jobs, and a new crossing.

Northwich is getting a Marks & Spencer foodhall. Cheshire West and Chester Council granted planning permission on Friday 23 October for the store on the former Environmental Health depot on Leicester Street, almost opposite Barons Quay and next door to Aldi.

The decision was taken by planning officers under delegated powers, so it never went to committee. The application, 26/01064/FUL, was made by Rothstone Estates Properties Limited in April.

What has been approved

The officer’s delegated report describes a single-storey store of about 2,255 square metres. The scheme includes:

  • 157 customer parking spaces, including disabled and parent and child bays
  • 14 staff spaces and 16 cycle spaces
  • a new pedestrian crossing over Leicester Street towards Barons Quay
  • replacement trees planted at more than two for every one lost

The report puts the jobs at “around 70 permanent jobs”.

Opening hours, deliveries and what it can sell

The decision notice carries the conditions shoppers and neighbours will notice:

  • the store may open to customers only between 7am and 11pm, any day of the week
  • the developer wanted deliveries from 5am; council noise officers said anything before 7am needs a noise assessment first, and delivery hours will be fixed by that assessment
  • construction is limited to 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays
  • at least 80% of the sales floor must be food and other everyday goods, with no more than 20% for clothing and other non-food lines, and the unit cannot be split up

Work must start within three years of the permission.

The Cumberland car park changes

The store’s main entrance will use what is now the exit from the Cumberland public car park. To make that work, the public car park’s entrance becomes an entry and exit, and the car park is re-laid with 153 spaces, about 20 fewer than now. The council’s highways officer accepted the loss, pointing to the new store spaces and the car park’s measured use.

The staff and delivery entrance will be the existing access next to Aldi. Public Footpath 17, which runs along the north edge of the site to Old Warrington Road, is not affected.

Why it was allowed outside the main shopping streets

The site is inside the Northwich town centre boundary but about 150 metres from the Primary Shopping Area, so it counts as “edge of centre” for retail.

The developer looked at two empty units in the shopping streets first: the former Bratts department store at 2-6 Witton Street and Unit 12-13 at Barons Quay. The report says neither would work, for reasons of size, servicing, parking and existing or future commitments.

No retail impact assessment was submitted, which the report calls “some policy conflict” with the Local Plan. Officers accepted there “may be an adverse impact” on Northwich and Winsford town centres. They judged it unlikely to be significant, because it would fall mainly on a few food shops rather than the centres as a whole.

Who commented

Only three public comments were received, according to the report:

  • the Cheshire Central Partnership Board supported the store, provided it is properly linked to the town centre with a safe crossing
  • one other comment supported it
  • one argued that the developer had misread the retail impact test

Northwich Town Council raised concerns about the loss of parking spaces, accessibility, active travel and public transport. The ward councillor made no comment. Natural England, the Health and Safety Executive, the drainage authority and United Utilities did not object.

What happens next

The permission comes with a legal agreement covering the biodiversity monitoring fee and the statutory 10% biodiversity net gain, part of which will be bought off site. Before building can start, the developer still has to get several details signed off, including a drainage scheme, a contamination investigation and a construction management plan.

Neither M&S nor the developer has published an opening date.

What it means for you

If you shop in Northwich, a full M&S food store is coming within walking distance of Barons Quay and the bus station. The crossing on Leicester Street is a condition of the permission, not an optional extra.

If you use the Cumberland car park, expect about 20 fewer spaces and a changed way in and out once work begins. Northwich already gained a new market hall at Barons Quay this year; our Northwich Market story has the details. Other big applications across the borough are on our planning news page.