Northumberland Estates is driving forward a £17m development in Stockton with the potential to create more than 180 jobs.
The property and development company is set outline the plans for land at Wynyard Park at a public consultation launch this week, highlighting how a 46,000 sq ft food store could built, alongside new with new food and drink facilities.
The food store is expected to be occupied by a high-quality national operator at the 15-hectare site, with national chains also having expressed an interest in occupying the two drive-through units.
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On top of jobs created or sustained in the construction phase, around 180 full time equivalent jobs would be created once the development is completed and taken on by operators.
Plans also include nine trade counter units, along with a battery compound to store energy generated at non-peak times to send back to the national grid for use at peak hours. Land to the south and east of the food store would be made ready for other forms of commercial development at a future date, as demand emerges.
The development would help to meet the needs of local people, who currently travel to large supermarkets in nearby Billingham and Stockton for their weekly food shopping.
The proposed scheme also comes in the wake of extensive residential development which has taken place at Wynyard, with further housebuilding set to take place over the next few years.
Northumberland Estates is seeking the views of local people on the plans via a digital consultation, which will be live from 25 April 2022 at the following address www.wynyardretail.co.uk A planning application is expected to follow in late May 2022.
Guy Munden, development planner at Northumberland Estates, said: “This development will help to better meet local retail needs, and reduce the need for people to travel to large stores elsewhere, including in Stockton and Billingham.
“With an increasing local population and further planned housing development, Wynyard Park will benefit from new, locally available, retail facilities which cater for weekly food shopping trips. This scheme will also help to create significant new employment for the area and make additional land ready to cater for any further demand from operators that emerges.”