THE future of Sainsbury's redevelopment plans in Redhill hang in the balance.
The supermarket giant secured planning permission to treble the size of its London Road store, as well as build a 98-bedroom hotel, gym and 562-space car park on site, last year.
But, following concerns that Travelodge – the hotel provider involved in the deal – would be unable to go through with the plan, developers submitted a second "back-up" application without the hotel. Members of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's planning committee met last week to discuss the revised application and looked set to reject it.
But following a lengthy debate, they decided to defer a decision for at least a month to the next meeting. Many councillors voiced their opposition to the new plans including council leader Joan Spiers, who, despite not being on the planning committee, urged them to reject the plan.
"The town needs a hotel," said Councillor Spiers. "The hotel will provide jobs for Redhill and it will bring in a lot of people. My attitude is quite simple. Sainsbury's asked for a hotel because they knew that is what we wanted."
Redhill West councillor and cabinet member for regeneration Natalie Bramhall said the inclusion of the hotel was a major factor in the development.
She added: "This would provide something that people really need. It would be something where business people could stay and then go out into Redhill. It would bring more vitality to Redhill. I don't want to say we don't want it at all but what we want is what we agreed over a year ago with the hotel."
Green Party Councillor Jonathan Essex also objected and provided written reasons for refusal.
But rather than reject the revised plan outright, councillors deferred making a decision to consider how the application will affect employment levels and to check the legal implications of rejecting it. Travelodge has also since confirmed it could run a 70-bed hotel on the site and a third application could be submitted.
Sainsbury's and Aviva Investors spokesman James Mallinson said: "Following the deferral of our planning application, we will continue discussions with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. We hope to achieve a positive resolution as soon as possible to give the development, including a hotel, the best chance of being delivered."
