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21
Oct
National building supplies retailer planning to open trade counter in Knaresborough
Hardware and building supplies firm Screwfix is planning to open a branch in Knaresborough, planning documents reveal.
The national retailer has submitted a planning application for a variation of the terms of use of a building off Manse Lane to allow it to sell products form a trade counter there.
Under the current planning permission, which has been in place since the unit was built in 1982, the unit may only be used for light industrial purposes and the consent "shall not extend to permit the use of the premises for general or special industry for the sale of goods either by retail or to trade”.
But Screwfix, which plans to install a trade counter in the premises, wants to add to the end of this sentence the wording: "...except where such sales are ancillary to the permitted B8 use.”
In planning law, B8 use usually refers to warehouse, storage and distribution facilities.
In the letter submitted with its application, Screwfix states:
It is by no means unusual for businesses involved in the distribution of goods to include a trade counter, where customers can call personally and buy what they need. The size of the trade counter will be small, both in itself and by comparison with the whole of the premises.
In functional terms, the trade counter will be entirely reliant on the primary storage and distribution use and could not operate as a separate and independent retail unit.
It continues:
The purpose of the Screwfix operation at Atlantis House will be to serve the jobbing builder providing building materials which it would not be appropriate to stock in an industrial location.
As such, predominated by various employment uses, Atlantis House in Manse Lane is the best location for such a distribution use to occur, as it is of appropriate and sufficient size and provides appropriate parking/collection points for builder’s vehicles.
The consultation period on the site, which is opposite Travis Perkins, will end on Monday, November 2, and a decision on the application is expected to be made by Friday, November 20.
The Stray Ferret contacted Screwfix to ask when it plans to open the branch, should its application be approved. A spokeperson told us:
As we continue to grow our store network we will announce details about each new store, including planned dates for opening, when appropriate.
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