Concerns over 'retail diversity' in Preston as Home Bargains number FIVE given green light

Is Preston becoming a 'single shop' destination? That was the concern raised by one councillor as Preston City Council's planning committee waved through plans for yet another Home Bargains in the area.

The retailer’s bid to move into a vacant unit alongside the Currys store on Blackpool Road was granted unanimously by councillors - yet worried over the 'retail diversity' in Preston were raised in the same meeting. The store will join Home Bargains’ existing trio of Preston outlets – on the Queens Shopping Park, Deepdale Road and Market Place in the city centre – along with the branch just over the border in South Ribble on the Capitol Retail Park in Walton-le-Dale.

And while the proposal was backed by every member of the committee, one councillor raised the issue of “diversity” within the local retail scene. Noting the number of Home Bargains already trading in and around Preston, Cllr Ben Ward said: “I’m slightly concerned we’re becoming a single shop destination.”

The committee had been asked to consider a request to change the type of products permitted to be sold in the disused facility. It was most recently occupied by PC World, which is now housed within the Currys next door. Currently – under permission granted when the two neighbouring units were first given the green light back in 2005 – some “ancillary” food sales are allowed, but they cannot take up more than five percent of the internal space.

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Home Bargains wanted clearance to use up to 30 percent of its new floorspace to sell food and drink. Planning officer Laura Holden reminded members that “the principle” of a retail outlet in the location had been established almost 20 years ago – and that they were being asked only to adjudicate on whether the proposed change to the conditions governing its trading was “acceptable or not”.

In its application to town hall planners, Homes Bargains requested – and received – permission for the sale of “health and beauty products; electrical goods and accessories; DIY and garden products and accessories; camping products and related items; medicines; baby products; household products; toys and games; pets, pet foods and other pet supplies; home furnishings and ornaments; seasonal products; food and drink products…and other items ancillary to these products”.

A special planning test – known as a ‘sequential assessment’ – has been carried out in an attempt to demonstrate that no other suitable locations in nearby district shopping centres or the city centre were available for the proposed new outlet. What do you think about the plans? Are there too many Home Bargains in Preston? Let us know in the comments below.