The St Martin’s Garage ground floor showroom on Grande Rue, which has in recent years been a Motor Mall, has an internal floor area of 800sqm.
St Martin’s village already has a Co-op, a Morrisons and an M&S, as well as the petrol station shop. But the application noted that St Martin’s was the largest local centre and this shop would fit in well there.
Morrisons at Manor Stores was previously an Iceland, before the supermarket chain bought the Channel Islands franchise last year and rebranded the businesses.
The Iceland brand has now been taken on by Alliance locally, which is already preparing to open a new Iceland in Market Square.
While the name of the business is not mentioned in the application form – which came from St Martin’s Garage Guernsey Ltd –the representation from Traffic & Highway Services confirmed that it would be an Iceland store.
THS said that with parking for more than 100 vehicles on the site, there was enough room for the new business.
THS advised that pedestrian access to the Business Park raised some concerns, and suggested that marking out or designating pedestrian walkways and crossings within the site would be a good idea.
‘The proposed change of use –not just to a convenience store, but to a large food store in particular – would likely lead to an increase in pedestrian movements to and from the site,’ said THS.
Currently, pedestrians were required to share road space with vehicles exiting the site.
‘THS would encourage the applicant to consider appropriate mitigation measures to address these issues in the interest of improving overall accessibility and safety.’
The planners said there was not an over provision of convenience retail in the parish currently and there was capacity for a new store.
‘Whilst there is already a strong convenience offering within the Local Centre, it is not considered that the addition of convenience retail with this proposal would result in an over-provision of convenience retail, including cumulative impact of the development together with existing, that would over-provide this particular use,’ the planners said in their report.
‘Instead, it is considered that the expansion of convenience retail space will support and complement the existing role of the local centre as a convenience and service centre, and is of an appropriate scale to serve the community.’