I thought most people assumed it would be turned down at this point. It was always going to appeal surely?
But that was before chadkirk/trinity was thrown into the mix, and they stood a very good chance of winning as the council were essentially rejecting the bid "just because". Now, it's more interesting, and Asda have got to weight up whether they think they have any chance of winning the appeal.
A question for those who know more about planning proceedures that me. Lets assume that Asda don't appeal, or lose the appeal. How do things stand in, say 3 years time, if the Trinity Development still hasn't gone ahead because as some suspect on here, its not a truely viable proposal due to the cost of developing the site, and the lack of parking. Would Asda (or another Supermarket if Asda lose interest) be able to come back, retable the planning application, and win on the sequential test by demonstrating that the lack of movement on the Trinity Development is evidence that it isn't actually a suitable alternative for another supermarket in Marple.
As long as both those sites on Hibbert Lane & Trinity Street are vacant and available this issue will never be resolved. The only way to
virtually guarantee that a supermarket is not built on Hibbert Lane is to build one on Trinity Street and the only way to
absolutely guarantee it is to build something else on Hibbert Lane. Obviously, neither of these situations has happened yet. Planning permission is decidedly not the end of this story.
Another issue here is CAMSFC. What exactly is their situation in general and their financial situation in particular. If it is bad, then how long can they afford to wait on ASDA ? In addition to this what exactly is their contractual arrangement with ASDA. Can they extricate themselves from the partnership and sell the land for zoned development for which they would get planning permission although they would also get considerably less money than a supermarket is prepared to pay. However three years waiting in the wings with no money from either might finish them off anyway.
There is also the increasing threat to them of competition from a small but select band of Secondary schools who have definite plans to open up a sixth form provision in the near future. Marple Hall is one of them.
The irony now is that MACSFC have moved from the position of having no control over the situation at Hibbert Lane to possibly having the final say.