Tesco.com - Competition Commission

Long Eaton Extra

Some of our sites are relatively straightforward and by working with the planning system and using our skills as developers we can minimise the timescale for opening a store.

An example of this is our Long Eaton Extra store. In 2001 we identified a site on the edge of the town centre that already had outline planning consent for a smaller store. The site is located very close to the town centre, but was in need of regeneration. We were confident that this development would enhance the vitality of the town.

Often brownfield developments such as this are complicated and usually require the purchase of multiple parcels of land, but in this case we only had to acquire two parcels. The first was owned by British Gas and although more recently it had been used for offices, it had previously been used as a manufacturing site. We were able to acquire the land when it went to tender. We also acquired an option on adjoining land.

The process of applying for planning consent in this case was reasonably straight forward, mainly because there was already consent for the smaller store. We submitted a full application in April 2002 for a 108,000 sq ft store.

At the Planning Committee meeting held in January 2003 the Council resolved to grant permission subject to the completion of a Section 106 Agreement and, due to the size of the store, the application being referred to the Government Office for the East Midlands. The Government Office saw no reason to call in the application and once the Section 106 agreement was completed, planning permission was issued on 22 May 2003.

We have improved the way in which we construct our stores and in this case we built the store on stilts so that we were able to maximise the car parking space allowing shoppers to make linked trips to the town centre.

Our Long Eaton Extra store opened in November 2004 having taken just over three years to develop and build.

*Section 106 agreements are entered into by a developer to enable a proposal to be acceptable to a local planning authority. For example: a) we recently developed a site in Torquay, working with the council to provide housing (including affordable housing) off-site; b) at Borden, we contributed towards an improved bus service; and c) at Holywell, in Wales, we are improving the highway adjoining our store. Section 106 agreements are strictly controlled by law, and must meet certain rules linking the type and degree of funding or provision to the scale and nature of the development. Planning permissions cannot be bought.