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2.9 Two further applications were subsequently submitted. The first, approved in March 1999 (Council Ref:
3PL/1999/0132), related to the siting of a waste energy recovery unit and vertical chimney flue; the
second was for an amendment to the external front elevation of the building (approved in April 2002,
Council Ref 3PL/2002/0285).
2.10 A summary of the full planning history of the site, which dates back to 1963, is set out in Document 1.
The planning history establishes that the lawful use of the site is B1 (Business), B2 (General Industrial)
and B8 (Storage or Distribution).
Document 1
2.11 It is of relevance that planning permission was approved on 13 th June 2011 (3PL/2010/1249F) for the
erection of a new Lidl foodstore with a net sales area of 1,280m² on 0.54ha of employment land adjacent
to London Road (to the south west of the site). The Lidl site is approximately 100m from the current
application site.
2.12 The Officer’s Committee Report identified the main considerations in respect of the application to be the
sequential assessment and the potential for impact on the vitality and viability of Thetford Town Centre,
i.e. essentially the ‘gateway tests’ of PPS4. In terms of the first ‘test’, it was accepted that there were no
sequentially preferable sites; the Report to Committee concluding that:
“With regard to vacant properties none of the units in the town centre
are large enough to accommodate Lidl’s business model. There were
also overriding constraints with regards to the six sites identified in
Appendix 6 of the NLP report. These constraints included inadequate
size of the site, availability, existence of Listed Buildings and current
occupation (the details of constraints on each site are outlined in the
PPS4 Assessment, November 2011, prepared by GVA Grimley). It
should be noted that a further location, the Council owned Bridges
Street/Anchor site, was considered at a later date but was not
available solely for food retail as the Council is hoping to provide a
mixed-use development on the site.”
2.13 This finding is important as the Lidl proposal was significantly smaller in size than the current proposal.
It was less than a quarter of the size of the proposed store.
2.14 In considering the second ‘test’ of impact, Officers also concluded that the proposal would not result in
an unacceptable impact on Thetford Town Centre. Given the scale of the Lidl proposal (below the PPS4
‘threshold’ for an impact assessment), only limited impact evidence was required and therein submitted.
Retail impact has, however, been assessed in full in Section 7 of this Statement.
2.15 The Lidl proposal together with the recently completed Wickes DIY store, also located on London Road,
establishes the acceptability of retail use in this general location (subject to the demonstration of the
above).
c) Proposed Development
2.16 Planning permission is sought in outline for the construction of a foodstore (Class A1) with associated
Former Tulip Factory Site, London Road/Caxton Way, Thetford Page 4
Retail & Planning Statement, February 2012