Plans by the owners of the Barnitts store in York to redevelop part of their site have been approved by councillors.
It means new housing units will be built on the site of the Drill Hall in St Andrewgate.
Councillors accepted that the development wasn’t suitable to produce a contribution payment towards affordable housing in York.
Under the plans…
- the shop housed on 22-26 Colliergate will be retained as the smaller Barnitts store
- 28A Colliergate – next door to Chloes cafe – will be converted to flats and ‘other commercial uses’
- the Drill Hall on St Andrewgate will be turned into 10 townhouses and two flats.
Meanwhile a 7,000 sq ft retail store with car parking at James Street will open, selling furniture, garden furniture and lighting and offering a ‘click and collect’ service.
Challenging time
It had been claimed that it wouldn’t be viable to redevlop if that was part of the deal.
Labour’s Johnny Crawshaw said he while he was happy to back the scheme, approval must not create a precedent.
The Greens’ Denise Craghill said it was a shame there would not be an affordable housing contribution but that had to be accepted.
Managing director of Barnitts, Paul Thompson, told the committee that the click and collect unit on James Street which would take 98% of deliveries which will help reduce congestion in the city centre.
After the meeting, Paul said: “The granting of planning approval is welcome news after a challenging time.
“This decision means we can now move on and concentrate on the next steps for Barnitts through reinvesting in retailing in York and expand the business by opening our new retail click and collect store with parking at James Street.”
“It will also result in us taking 98% of our delivery traffic out of the city centre.”