John Lewis 'may build in south'

John Lewis has submitted a new planning application

John Lewis has said it will consider building its store in the Irish Republic rather than near Lisburn if its planning application is not passed.

The company unveiled a new application on Thursday.

It will still be the main anchor tenant, but the number of other retail outlets at the Sprucefield site has been reduced from 29 to 19.

The developers are now seeking an early public inquiry to adjudicate on the proposal.

Gareth Thomas, who represents John Lewis, said: "All of the research that we have done tells us that in order to reach the whole of the Northern Irish catchment, we need to site our department store at Sprucefield.

"That will also allow us to reach about 200,000 south of the border as well."

The proposed development has been dogged by controversy since it was first submitted four years ago.

It has been opposed by traders in Lisburn, Belfast, Banbridge and Craigavon.

They feared their town centres would be damaged by the number of additional retail units attached to the John Lewis application.

But the former mayor of Lisburn, Jim Dillon, said trade would be lost to the Republic of Ireland if John Lewis did not get permission to build at Sprucefield.

"If there's one at Sprucefield then the people of Northern Ireland will come here, not the one in Dublin," he said.

What concerned us and our members about the previous planning application were the 30 additional retail units Glyn Roberts, NIIRTA

"But if you don't build at Sprucefield, there's a motorway practically from Sprucefield to Dublin and they'll be down there in an hour and a half."

Glyn Roberts of the NI Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) said: "We do not have any problems with a standalone John Lewis store opening in Sprucefield.

"What concerned us and our members about the previous planning application were the 30 additional retail units which would have gone alongside the proposed John Lewis store.

"We'd like to see the new proposals contain a major reduction in both the number and floor space of any additional retail units."

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