A divisive bid to turn a department store in the centre of Spalding into a church and host of other facilities has been given the green light.
The Lighthouse Church will be allowed to move its facilities, including food bank, to the former Hill’s base in Market Place along with creating a café, soft play area and book store.
South Holland District Council planning officers had three times recommended the application be refused when on the agenda to be decided by its Planning Committee.
A decision was deferred on its first appearance there while it was taken off the agenda for a subsequent meeting.
Last night’s (Wednesday July 17) Planning Committee meeting heard that the church had launched a legal challenge to the use of the local plan as a reason for refusal.
It had also submitted a marketing and management plan following previously aired concerns about noise.
After the legal challenge, officers had removed part of its reasoning for recommending refusal, but instated others.
Coun Paul Barnes said: “It looks to me people are looking for another reason not to improve this.
“Surely this would draw people and make very good use of a building which, in my opinion, would otherwise stand empty for a number of years.
“If we look locally to Peterborough, slightly bigger than Spalding, they can’t justify John Lewis, M&S and other large stores.”
Phil Norman head of planning told the meeting: “I would quite strongly refute any suggestion of prejudice. I’m quite content. It’s a balanced report.
“Planning is not black and white and we’ve had to come to a recommendation which is for refusal.
“If you view the loss of town centre floor space is unacceptable, you refuse it.
“If you believe, on balance, the benefit of a community use outweighs that loss of retail space, you approve.”
Coun Sophie Hutchinson tabled the motion to approve.
“I appreciate the loss of town centre use can sometimes cause harm, like in residential use where there wouldn’t be additional footfall or a shop frontage, but I’m struggling to understand where the harm is here.
“I can’t see we’ve got a strong reason for refusal as it’s very generalised.”
Coun Chris Brewis added: “The idea that in some way the retail centre of Spalding is going to see a resurgence is, I think, pie in the sky. It’s extremely unlikely.
“If the building had only been empty for four or six weeks then fine, but it seems to me there’s been a reasonable attempt to see if there is any interest in it and there doesn’t appear to be.
“To have a building like this used and busy would be preferable to having it empty and similar to those in the town that have been empty for a very long time.
Coun Andrew Tennant continued: “Someone spent a lot of money buying Hills, turning it into a new department store and that’s closed.
“There’s proof there the formula for a department store in a small market town has gone.
“I believe The Lighthouse Church has a formula to turn that building into a success for Spalding based on its history.
“When Lighthouse started food banks everybody thought it as crazy. The same with street pastors and what a great idea it was.
“I’m confident this organisation will take this forward and in a few years we’ll think it’s better than what we passed at planning.”
Some councillors argued it should go ahead.
Chair of the committee James Avery said: “Looking back, I moved to Pinchbeck in 1976 and as a 14-year-old Spalding was the most boring place on Earth.
“But now I think it was a bustling market town.
“Spalding is no different to many other towns across the country. They have been hollowed out by agents of change and time.
“That’s different types of retail and services available to the customer.
“Spalding does struggle with its identity, viability and vitality.
“I’m not convinced this will necessarily bring the appropriate calibre of footfall into the centre of Spalding but it will bring the building back into use.”
But 11 councillors voted in favour of approval with three against.
Mr David Sandhu speaking on behalf of The Lighthouse to the committee said: “It will greatly benefit the location and our town.
“To those who say ‘good project, wrong location’ I’d like to clarify that we have explored many options before and during this process.
“From Taylor’s Garage, the bowling alley, 38 Spring Gardens and the recently marketed bingo hall, they do not meet our requirements or have been sold.
“Hills/Coney’s does meet the needs and can provide suitable facilities for the community to enjoy.
“This has been a long and frustrating process all while the building has remained empty and unused and beginning to display times of ware and deterioration.
“In certain places the policies used against this proposal have either been wrong or selectively used against us, in our opinion, not being fair or balanced and appearing to us an agenda to wrongfully deny this move forward.
“Our heart is for the community we live in. We are not trying to damage the vibrancy and vitality of this town but we want to add to it.
“This proposal has the potential to bring people to the town regularly all due to the services The Lighthouse Church provides along with the provisions outlined in the proposal.
“The building isn’t being demolished, torn down, turned into flats.
“It’s a soft play, youth zone, a café, a book shop and a church. These are our priorities.”
