A WARRINGTON company has hit back at the council's decision to turn down their plans for a town centre supermarket and residential complex.

As reported in last Friday's GUARDIAN Locker Group's outline planning application to build a supermarket and housing complex at its Church Street site was refused by Warrington Borough Council's development control committee, despite the council's officers recommending the scheme for approval.

Locker's chairman Phil Gartside said: "I was amazed that the councillors were prepared to ignore the findings of their officers in refusing the application. We were looking for the support of the town, both to protect our own employees and expand our business in Warrington. What was particularly galling to me as a lay-person, was that the committee, having refused our application, then struggled to find any valid planning reasons for its decision.

"We are disappointed for our staff, customers, shareholders and the town. We have been working very closely with senior members and officers of the council for well over a year and had substantially modified our initial ideas. We submitted a very detailed application which cost almost £100,000.

"I strongly support the need to conserve our heritage but it never ceases to amaze me of the mentality of those who halt progress. We all have to balance our views and actions to ensure we move forward, particularly those of us who hold responsible positions which enable us to affect the future."

Lockers now plan to meet with the council for further talks which may lead to a change and resubmission of the plans.

But Phil Gartside added that the refusal of the plans means Lockers will now be reviewing its relocation plans.

"This will more than likely mean that the company will move outside Warrington," he said, "and things will change at the Church Street site.

"If the plans had been approved we would re-invest in the Warrington area and help the other businesses on the site to relocate, but we can't afford to move in an area where we receive no financial support."

Clr Darren Pilling, one of the councillors who objected to the proposals, said: "To suggest that members struggled to find reasons for refusal is quite ludicrous.

"There were so many reasons, having had a long, fair and robust debate, and it was important that we got the right ones down.

"And in terms of curtailing progress, Warrington has proved itself in the past to be a town that moves with the times in terms of economic development as a recent survey showed. It is ridiculous that anyone can suggest otherwise."

Ward Councillor Mike Hughes said: "I am very pleased for the people in the area that the application was refused.

"Residents want the land to be used for a housing development which would help to regenerate and revitalise the town centre."

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