TRADERS in Jedburgh have welcomed the council’s decision to reject for a third time plans for a supermarket on the edge of the town.
At Monday’s meeting of the planning committee, members followed the officer’s recommendation to refuse permission for the creation of a store with petrol station on land at the town’s northern entrance.
It was proposed to be about the same size as the Sainsbury’s store in Kelso.
Jedburgh Traders’ Association had objected to the plans.
Chairperson Diana Cairns told TheSouthern: “On behalf of the traders I can say that we are relieved that it has been turned down.
“We are not against a new supermarket, but one out of the town would kill off the town centre.”
The applicant, James Brown, said that ‘detailed discussions’ had been held with Asda and Tesco about the creation of a store on the site of the former Oregon Timber Frame premises on Edinburgh Road.
The site of the store would also include an area currently occupied by other workshops and business premises.
However, the owners of part of the site, Crabtree and Crabtree Ltd, told the council that the scheme was ‘undeliverable, opportunist and ill-conceived’.
Previous applications for a store on the site, also for planning permission in principle, were refused in October 2011 and February 2012.
A recurring issue with the various applications has been that the site is allocated in the council’s local plan as employment land, and the policy does not allow for a retail development of this type to be built within an area designated for such industrial or business use.