GREGGS is lining up a second location to have on the menu in Bangor.
The bakery chain is hungry to move into a unit in the city’s Balloo Industrial Estate, transforming what had been a dry cleaners and laundry into a new hot food outlet for takeaway and sit-in dining.
The firm is eyeing a site on Balloo Link and has already filed an application permitting it to change use of the building to allow the sale of food and drink.
Documents prepared by consultants TSA Planning argue that changing from a laundry to a takeaway outlet should be acceptable as businesses are already so mixed in the estate, with nearby companies including a cafe, carpet stores, a golf equipment outlet and a gym.
And although existing rules are that town centres should be prioritised for business over out of town developments, TSA argue that retail is already so built up as an integral part of the Balloo Estate that it should be considered a de facto town centre under planning legislation.
State the consultants: “It is considered that the proposal is compatible with predominant industrial use [of the estate].
“It is of a scale, nature and form appropriate to the locations, and its approval will not lead to a significant diminution of the industrial [or] employment land resource in the locality and the plan area generally.”
Although the 3,200 square foot unit will need to be refitted to become a branch of Greggs, the consultants also suggest that external changes will be minimal and ‘in-keeping with the character of existing business units’ nearby.
The new outlet will also be easy to access using car parking spaces already in the area, say consultants.
Applications for the takeaway were only recently filed, so the project is still at a very early stage and planning authorities are unlikely to make a decision on whether or not to let it go ahead for at least a few months.
