Plans for new M&S store at Gateway Retail Park in Weymouth take step forward

Plans for a new Marks and Spencer (M&S) store in Dorset have been welcomed by councillors who voted unanimously in favour of the proposals.

The new building at the Gateway Retail Park will be double the size of the seafront M&S, which is likely to close in 2027.

It is expected 45 new jobs will be created by the development, adding to the 340 already at The Gateway.

Fifty additional jobs will also be created during the construction phase.

There has been some concern about the loss of the town centre M&S, with fears that other stores could follow and look for out of town sites.

M&S said the new multi-million store will be "full-range," joining other businesses such as Aldi, B&M, Costa, Dunelm and McDonalds which are already operating from the retail park.

Weymouth councillor David Northam said lessons needed to be learnt from the loss of town centre businesses in the forthcoming review of the Dorset Local Plan.

He said the Gateway site, overall, had not achieved its ambition, with a failure to attract other commercial uses and remains mostly a retail park.

“If this was for something, other than M&S, this might not have had the level of support it has,” he said.

Wyke Regis councillor Kate Wheller said the advantage of the site is that it has good transport links and was likely to attract shoppers into Weymouth from a wide area.

She expressed concern about allowing deliveries up until 11pm, asking for an earlier cut-off, but was told the delivery area was to the east side of the development, some way from homes, and would be surrounded by an acoustic fence to muffle any noise.

The Dorset Council area planning committee heard that council officers had worked with the developers since the submission of the early proposals to "tone-down," with cladding in earthy colours, what was originally described as "a white box" – with additional trees to break up the appearance of the car park.

The planning consent has now been delegated to the council’s head of planning to reach agreement on the details, including the moving of a sewer which crosses the site, prior to the building work starting.

The decision will also have to be referred to the Secretary of State under the Government’s rules which seek to protect town centre shopping because the use does not fully comply with the council’s development plans. There is a 21-day period for that to happen.

The joint application was submitted by LondonMetric Property and Avercet who said the new store, added to those already there, will enhance Weymouth as a shopping destination.

Avercet director Christopher Newns told councillors that with LondonMetric, over eight years, they had developed a site which had been vacant for years into a "a vibrant retail park despite the challenges of the pandemic and in phases one and two have met all our promises for the site."

Phil Marsden, from M&S, said the new store would enable the company to "showcase our whole range and commit to Weymouth for the long-term."

He said that during the consultation phase, 86 per cent of people surveyed said they supported the new store proposal, which was also backed by Weymouth Town Council.

The planning application includes 234 additional parking spaces including 10 extra EV charging points and covered cycle racks, and associated infrastructure and landscaping.

In addition, there will be a financial contribution to support Dorset Council’s e-bike hire scheme.