Plans to open a new branch of The Range in Billingshurst have been turned down because of fears it would devastate the town’s high street.
Councillors described the proposal for the store at Billingshurst Trade Park as a “Trojan horse” which would cause a storm local shops could not weather.
Members of Horsham District Council’s planning committee voted to reject the scheme, also citing the effect of increased traffic on the town’s roads.
Applicant Dunmoore, which owns the trade park, said the new store would create 80 jobs and would pay for the rest of the park to be built.
Addressing the committee, Sam Bateman (Lib Dem, Billingshurst) said Dunmoore was: “not offering the golden ticket, they’re delivering a Trojan horse.
“I call it a Trojan horse because it will have unintended consequences. It will have the effect of destroying a local high street.
Billingshurst is a very small town. Its high street is not strong enough to weather the storm of a whopping great retail outfit.
“And Dunmoore wants to offer up this 60% increase in retail within spitting distance.”
The trade park was approved in 2019, with the aim of providing employment floorspace for industrial, storage and distribution use. Phase one is mostly complete, with all but one of the buildings occupied. But progress has been slower for phase two.
Dunmoore said The Range would bring in the investment needed to allow for the build-out of the reminder of the site. Managing director Jeff Hobby previously said: “Unfortunately, at the moment it’s not an either/or. One enables the other. It’s as simple as that.”
The application was refused on a number of grounds including: the loss of employment floorspace; the adverse impact on the vitality and viability of Billingshurst town centre; and a failure to demonstrate that there would not be an impact on local roads.
Had it been approved, it would have stood next to the Lidl store, which was approved in 2021.
Despite being a food-store, Lidl was given the go-ahead because it was shown that the required 14,075sqm of industrial, storage or distribution floorspace on the site could still be met.
But adding The Range would bring that figure down to between 10,000 and 13,000sqm.
To view the application, log on to public-access.horsham.gov.uk and search for DC/24/1452
