Nearby supermarket plan recommended for refusal

Llan people opposed to a new supermarket in our town may be interested in the following story in today's Leader:  

"Plans for a new supermarket have been recommended for refusal.
The proposals for the development on Vauxhall Industrial Estate, Ruabon, will go before Wrexham Council’s planning committee today (Monday).

Planning officers, though, believe that the scheme should not go ahead.

A public consultation held earlier this year suggested “overwhelming support” for the £6 million project, according to Manchester-based developers Capital and Centric PLC, with 92 per cent of those consulted voting in favour.

The firm behind the proposed supermarket, which would serve the people of Rhos, Johnstown, Penycae and Ruabon, has not been disclosed but is believed to be one of the ‘big four’ chains.

Director of Capital and Centric PLC, Adam Higgins, said the 46,000 square foot store, about half the size of Sainsbury’s Plas Coch site, would service about 20,000 people in the four villages.

It is claimed the supermarket could create 250 jobs.

The application is welcomed by Ruabon Community Council.

However, a report by Wrexham Council’s head of community wellbeing and development, Lawrence Isted, says a retail assessment undertaken “fails to demonstrate there is a need for a development of the size proposed”.

It says other sites have not been adequately assessed, nor “the detrimental impact the development is likely to have upon the vitality and viability of the district shopping centres of Rhos and Ruabon”.

The report concludes the development would not reduce the need for residents to travel and is poorly served by public transport.

The car park, it also says, would have a “detrimental impact upon the appearance of the locality”.