M&S: Plans for new Crescent Link store in Londonderry shelved

Crescent Link is one of the biggest retail developments in the North West

The owner of Crescent Link Retail Park in Londonderry has said it is "deeply disappointing" that redevelopment plans for a new Marks and Spencer store are to be shelved.

The plans, which would have created dozens of new jobs, included moving the current M&S store next to Homebase and a creating a larger food hall.

Homebase was also due to be resized.

David Samuel Properties first submitted the planning application in January 2021.

The company told BBC Radio Foyle's The North West Today there had been "numerous delays with the planning process, as well as the significant increase of material costs associated with the redevelopment".

A spokesperson for M&S said the retailer was "supportive of the planning application and share their disappointment".

Derry City and Strabane District Council confirmed the application was withdrawn on 15 June.

"Council was not provided with any further detail relating to the decision by the applicant to withdraw the application," a spokesperson said.

Crescent Link is one of the biggest retail developments in the north west.

Developers waiting a long time for decisions

In Northern Ireland there are two types of planning applications.

There are local planning applications like your house extensions and then there are major applications like a housing development of more than 50 houses or a retail site of more than 1,000sqm.

The target for processing major applications for councils is within 30 weeks.

From April to September 2022, the average across all councils in Northern Ireland was 50 weeks to process a major planning application, but Derry City and Strabane District Council (DCSDC) was well in excess of that target.

However, this was based on a reasonably small amount of applications.

If we go back to pre-Covid times in 2019-20, DCSDC had 11 major applications and it was taking an average of 96 weeks to process these - almost three times as long as it is supposed to take.

This means that many developers can wait an extremely long time even just to get a no.

Manchester-based David Samuel Properties paid a reported £30m for the site in 2019.

"It is deeply disappointing to be withdrawing our planning application," the company said.

"It would have seen the creation of up to 110 jobs, a significant contribution to council rates and new retail offerings.

"This announcement comes at a challenging time for the retail sector as it comes to terms with the increase in online shopping and high inflation, but the challenges with the planning system in Northern Ireland have made further investment increasingly difficult.

"We remain committed to investment in the layout and management of the car park and are looking to bring forward alternative proposals in the near future."

DUP MLA Gary Middleton says issues around the planning process need to be sorted before investors 'turn off'

Democratic Unionist Party assembly member for Foyle, Gary Middelton, said the M&S store decision was very frustrating and was yet another example of issues around planning applications.

"There are wider issue at play here and we need to get on top of them before investors turn off," he said.

Supermarket chain Iceland scrapped plans for a third store in Derry in the Crescent Link area back in 2021 over planning process delays.