Home Bargains propose to open second Derry store creating up to 50 jobs

Multi-national retailer, Home Bargains, is hoping to open a second store in Derry in addition to their Strand Road site, which could create up to 50 jobs.

The application to open a second store at the Crescent Link Retail Park in the Waterside came before a meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Planning Committee.

Work is currently ongoing at the former site of Budget DIY on Strand Road and is set to create 100 jobs when it opens early next year.

The application was made by Genova North West Ltd. director, Ciaran Murdock and Tom Stokes, of TSA Planning, who attended the meeting to make their case to create a further 50 jobs by opening a Waterside store.

A recommendation had been made by planning officers to reject the application stating that the retail park was for the sale of bulky goods to control the nature and scale of the businesses there.

Planning officers also said that approving the application would ‘prejudice the town centre and district centres’ by drawing trade away from them.

Mr Murdock said the current unit was being occupied by a friend as a ‘favour’ to him and that he was only paying electricity and rates while the company paid the rent.

He added he was anxious to instate a long-term multi-national retailer as a tenant who could create up to 50 jobs, invest £750,000 into the city and that Genova North West Ltd was also willing to invest a further £500,000.

Mr Murdock was asked about the difficulty of access and exit to Crescent Link Retail Park. He said that, currently, he was under no obligation to change it. However, he said that if the application were successful, he would be willing to restructure the current ‘bottleneck’ structure, which causes considerable traffic congestion, particularly at busy times of the year, inconveniencing both consumers and local residents in nearby areas.

Despite the recommendation of planning officers to refuse the application, after a lengthy debate, councillors decided to ignore the advice and there was a majority vote in favour of the new store.

The matter, as is normal protocol in the overturning of a recommendation, will be back before the Planning Committee at a meeting at the end of this month.