Cheshire East’s Strategic Planning Board has approved the Sainsbury’s store to be built on the former Twyford Bathrooms site.
The store will include:
- A 249-space car park
- A petrol station with EV chargers
- 100 new jobs
- £100,000 towards a bus service
- £100,000 to widen the Linley Lane footpath
- £100,000 for local highway improvements
- £200,000 for junction improvements on Linley Lane (B5077).
The proposed Sainsbury’s was originally approved ten years ago. Revised plans for the supermarket were announced in January.
An Alsager News poll in February found that 95 per cent of those questioned were in favour of the new store.
Gary Morris, a Sainsbury’s agent, said that the retail market had changed since plans were first approved in 2014.
This has meant the number of parking spaces and the number of pumps at the petrol station have been reduced.
Mr Morris said: “A lot of people work at home, which gives them more opportunities to shop during the week, so we don’t see the Friday and Saturday peaks that we used to. So that means we don’t need as many car parking spaces because you’ve not as many people in the store at any one time.”
He mentioned the impact of online shopping, which was not as popular ten years ago.
The coffee shop that was included in the original plans has been removed, but an independent coffee shop is expected to fill a space which has been created in the store plans by shrinking other areas.
The existing Sainsbury’s Local store on Crewe Road will remain open once the new store begins trading.
Alsager News 