The owner of a Lancashire shopping centre fearful of losing its tenants to a new retail development in the town has failed to persuade a judge to quash the rival’s planning permission.
The owner of the Concourse Shopping Centre in Skelmersdale had expressed concerns it could lose anchor tenants Home Bargains and Wilko to the St Modwen Developments scheme, which is also in Skelmersdale town centre and for which planning permission was granted last June.
It also argued in court that a report commissioned by West Lancashire Borough Council prior to the decision also indicated that Poundland, Poundworld, Argos, Peacocks, Superdrug and New Look might be interested in the new development.
However, Mr Justice Jay rejected the Concourse’s owner’s claim that a planning condition intended to protect the Concourse was unenforceable and unlawful.
The authority imposed the condition seeking to bar tenants of the Concourse (with a retail floorspace there of more than 250 sq m) from taking floorspace at the new site within 12 months, except in the case of a five-year commitment to also remain at the Concourse.
However, the Skelmersdale Limited Partnership, owner of the Concourse, said that this would not protect its interests or the vitality and viability of the town centre.
Dismissing the claim, the judge said that Skelmersdale has been “somewhat run-down and tired” for many years, and that planners had been searching for ways to revitalise the area, resulting in the approval of this development, which will include a foodstore, other retail units, a cinema and restaurants.
But he said that the “outdated” Concourse was “particularly vulnerable to a new shopping centre with better parking arrangements”.
He said it was “crystal-clear” that the council’s intention was to safeguard the Concourse by placing formal constraints on the ability of larger retailers to relocate.
He found that the condition intended to meet this aim requires 18 named retailers to give a “legally binding commitment”, and rejected a claim that this could be challenged as discriminatory against those retailers because it plainly amounted to a legitimate planning purpose.
R (on the application of Skelmersdale Limited Partnership) v West Lancashire Borough Council Planning Court (Jay J) 27 January 2016
Christopher Boyle QC and Andrew Parkinson (instructed by Higgs & Sons) for the claimant
James Maurici QC (instructed by Matthew Jones, Legal and Members Services Manager) for the defendant
Douglas Edwards QC and Sarah Sackman (instructed by Winkworth Sherwood LLP) for the interested party
